<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Bad Things Happen Bingo 2019 by youreyeslookliketheocean</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24362110">Bad Things Happen Bingo 2019</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/youreyeslookliketheocean/pseuds/youreyeslookliketheocean'>youreyeslookliketheocean</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Miraculous Ladybug</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Blindness, Brainwashing, Claustrophobia, Concussions, Drowning, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Identity Reveal, Insomnia, Panic Attacks, Post-Reveal Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Series, badthingshappenbingo, marinette being a badass, mostly angst, there is fluff I promise, tw: drowning, tw: panic attack</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 10:13:57</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>29,670</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24362110</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/youreyeslookliketheocean/pseuds/youreyeslookliketheocean</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Just a series of mini ficlets/drabbles I wrote last year thanks to you guys' tumblr requests and the badthingshappenbingo account.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Misternoire - Relationship, adrienette, ladynoir, marichat - Relationship</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>71</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Insomnia</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I changed just a littttllleeee bit of this one because there was a line in the tumblr version that made no sense. Just letting you know.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Marinette rolled onto her side, her lips pulling down into a pout. It had officially been twenty-four hours since she had gotten any sleep, and her head had decided to protest rather vehemently by pounding against her skull. She had already taken all the medicine she could, including some special tea her maman had made, but really Marinette knew it was all in vain. At this point, the only thing that would help her was the one thing that she couldn’t seem to get: sleep.</p>
<p>Marinette pressed her fingers to her temples and rolled back over. Her sheets tangled around her ankles, and she kicked at them frustratedly. It was too hot, or maybe too cold. The sound of the A/C in her room was way to loud, and the glow of her nightlight was too bright. Marinette reached over to yank it out of the wall. She flung it across the room before flopping back onto her bed.</p>
<p>Great, now her pillow was too lumpy.</p>
<p>Marinette let out a strangled groan, kicking at her sheets again.</p>
<p>It was a side effect of the Miraculous—Tikki explained one night after Marinette had tossed and turned for hours, unable to get comfortable—insomnia. Turns out that having the fate of a few thousand civilians resting on your shoulders gives a person terrible anxiety, which in turn, causes insomnia. Not a great combination. Especially when said person is also a high school student.</p>
<p>Marinette spread her arms out across her bed, staring up at the skylight above her.</p>
<p>“Tikki, how did your other Ladybugs deal with this?” She asked.</p>
<p>“Not all my other Ladybugs had insomnia like you,” Tikki hummed drowsily from beside Marinette’s head, “but for the ones who did…they usually just waited it out. You could try counting sheep, or making up a story in your head? Some of them liked listening to things when they went to sleep, as well.”</p>
<p>Marinette frowned. “But I’ve tried all of those things already, and nothing’s helped.”</p>
<p>Tikki pushed herself off the pillow and rubbed her eyes, staring down at her sleep-deprived chosen. “Maybe you should talk to Chat Noir about it. He deals with it too, you know.”</p>
<p>“He does?”</p>
<p>Tikki nodded, stretching her legs and tail out in the air. “Yes. In fact, there’s a message on your phone right now from him, which means he’s also awake. Maybe you should talk to him.”</p>
<p>“But…” Marinette glanced to the side, worrying her bottom lip with her teeth. “I haven’t talked to him since he found out who I was.“</p>
<p>Tikki shrugged, flying down to pick up Marinette’s phone. She held it out to the girl, and the screen lit up from the motion.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>CN: are you awake?</b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Marinette glanced doubtfully up at Tikki.</p>
<p>“No better time to talk than now, right?” The kwami asked.</p>
<p>Marinette sighed. She reached out and took the phone from Tikki, unlocking it and going to her messages.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>CN: are you awake?</b>
</p>
<p>
  <b>LB: Yeah.</b>
</p>
<p>
  <b>CN: …I can’t sleep.</b>
</p>
<p>
  <b>LB: Me neither. Tikki said it’s a side effect of the Miraculous. :/</b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>CN: oh.</b>
</p>
<p>
  <b>CN: can I come over?</b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Marinette sucked in a breath. She glanced over at Tikki, but the kwami was conveniently looking the other way, fiddling with a poster on Marinette’s wall. Marinette let out an exasperated huff, but texted back.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>LB: Sure. We need to talk anyway.</b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>After seeing the tiny read time pop up at the bottom of her message, Marinette sighed, and clicked her phone off. Her room plunged back into darkness, and she moved her arm to rest behind her head as she waited for Chat to show up.</p>
<p>She had thought she would feel anxious—at least a little bit. She really hadn’t spoken with Chat since he accidentally stumbled across her detransforming two days ago. It wasn’t because she didn’t <em>want</em> to talk to him, though. She did want to. She just wasn’t quite sure what to say.</p>
<p>
  <em>“Hi, I’m Marinette. You know, that girl you once poured your heart out to about your crush on Ladybug? Ladybug, who is me, by the way. Oh! And you can’t forget about the time I told you I was in love with you because I thought that you’d figured out that I’m Ladybug. You had to come endure this god-awful breakfast with me and my family, and my father got akumatized over your rejection.”</em>
</p>
<p>Marinette groaned, and thwacked her head back against her pillow. Maybe she <em>was</em> anxious.</p>
<p>Suddenly, the moonlight from outside was cut off as a thin, dark silhouette appeared in the skylight window. Marinette shot up as the figure tapped on the glass.</p>
<p>“Mari? Can I come in?” A familiar voice asked.</p>
<p>Marinette bit back her nerves, reaching up to undo the lock on the skylight door and pushing it open. Chat immediately dropped down into the room. He glanced around before finally allowing his eyes to rest on her. His irises glowed slightly in the dark—something Marinette had never noticed before.</p>
<p>“Hey,” Chat said quietly.</p>
<p>“Hey,” she responded.</p>
<p>Neither moved for a moment, but then Chat’s tail gave an involuntary flick behind him, sending them both into motion. Marinette reached up to pull the trap door closed, and Chat scooted away from her, putting a more comfortable distance between the two. Marinette looked around for Tikki, but the sneaky little kwami was suddenly nowhere to be found. She had probably left them alone on purpose.</p>
<p>Marinette focused her eyes back on Chat as he fiddled with the tip of his tail. His cat ears were nearly flat against his head, and his bottom lip was firmly wedged between his teeth as he worried it back and forth.</p>
<p>“Chat?”</p>
<p>The boy looked up, wide green eyes meeting hers.</p>
<p>“Yeah?”</p>
<p>“I don’t think I like Insomnia.”</p>
<p>Chat stared at her a long moment, before a smile began to slowly stretch across his face. “Me neither.”</p>
<p>Marinette smiled back, feeling some of the tension leave her shoulders. “I think I’ve watched more cat videos in the past few weeks than anyone has in a whole lifetime,” she confessed.</p>
<p>“I wouldn’t be too sure about that,” Chat shot back, grinning. “I watched videos of cats jumping away from cucumbers from ten p.m. to seven a.m. yesterday night.”</p>
<p>Marinette giggled, and Chat scooted closer to her. He reached out towards the hand resting in her lap, but paused halfway there. He glanced up at Marinette with a questioning look in his eyes.</p>
<p>Marinette didn’t bother answering, simply putting her hand in his. Chat smiled, his shoulders dropping in relief.</p>
<p>“I’m sorry,” he whispered, squeezing her hand.</p>
<p>Marinette shook her head. “It was an accident, and I’m not mad. I’m sorry if it seemed like I was; I should have talked to you sooner.”</p>
<p>Chat sighed, flopping down onto the bed. He kept Marinette’s hand in his, much to her satisfaction.</p>
<p>“It’s okay. It’s not like it would have been keeping me up at night. Insomnia’s already doing that.”</p>
<p>Marinette let out a snort, and Chat pulled her arm so she would come lay down with him. She gave in, curling up on the blankets across from him. They kept their hands intertwined, settling them between each other on the bed.</p>
<p>“Wanna watch cat Vines?” Marinette asked after a moment, grinning at the way Chat’s eyes lit up.</p>
<p>“You bet,” he said before holding up a finger to wait, and letting out a giant yawn. Once he was finished, he blinked sleepily down at Marinette. She gave him a sympathetic smile.</p>
<p>“Think you want to try going to sleep, first?” She asked.</p>
<p>Chat was about to shake his head, but then Marinette let out a yawn. She let go of his hand to rub her eyes, and Chat sighed.</p>
<p>“Maybe giving it a quick try would be a good idea,” he said, settling into the sheets.</p>
<p>Marinette copied him, snuggling deeper into her blankets. She reached out her hand again, and Chat took it. He rubbed his thumb against the back of her knuckles, and Marinette exhaled contentedly. She closed her eyes, allowing the world to fade away with every circle Chat drew on her hand. Everything she had been fretting about before didn’t seem all that important anymore. She had her partner now, the one person who promised to always be by her side. No matter what happened, they would take it on together. That included strange Miraculous side effects.</p>
<p>“You know what’s funny? I think I might fall asleep right here,” Chat mumbled.</p>
<p>Ladybug opened her eyes just enough to see his face—his eyes closed, lips parted. She smiled.</p>
<p>“Me too,” she whispered. She closed her eyes again, squeezing Chat’s hand tighter in her’s. “Night, <em>Chaton</em>.”</p>
<p>“G’night, M’Lady.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Five minutes later, Tikki phased back up to Marinette’s bed. She gave the two, sleeping teens a knowing smile before flying to her spot next to Marinette’s head, curling up into a ball, and closing her eyes.</p>
<p>“Sweet dreams, Marinette,” she whispered before drifting off to sleep.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Go Through Me</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Pairing/Characters: Felix and Marinette (pretty platonic but you can read this any way you want)</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When Marinette woke up for school that morning, she didn’t expect to be forcefully ripped out of her bed, through the open skylight, and tossed down to the concrete outside.</p><p>Her Ladybug instincts immediately kicking in, Marinette covered her head with her arms and tucked into a roll. It did little to help as the concrete tore at her arms and pajama pants, leaving bruises and scratches that she could only hope wouldn’t scar, but at least her head was protected. She finally rolled to a stop against a stop sign, the metal twanging as her ankle hit it. She groaned as she sat up, reaching down to rub her foot. That would definitely leave a bruise.</p><p>“Late to class? How typical. Students are always late when they know they’re having a substitute teacher!”</p><p>Marinette glanced up, her tired eyes finally catching on the reason her sleep had been disturbed. A lady dressed in a colorful outfit—a rainbow skirt paired with red leggings, an ABC tee shirt, and a macaroni necklace—was leisurely twirling a stick in her hands a few feet away. She pointed the stick at Marinette as the girl blinked sleep out of her eyes.</p><p>“It’s time to wake up, Dearie! Come join the rest of your classmates in <em>detention</em>!”</p><p>Marinette watched in horror as a glowing yellow ball shot itself from the tip of the teacher’s stick. The ball flew through the air, growing bigger in Marinette’s vision until-</p><p>“Look out!”</p><p>Marinette grunted as a large force collided with her from the side, sending her toppling across the pavement for the second time that morning. She realized, as the force wrapped itself around her, that it was a person. A person whose green vest nearly suffocated her as they continued rolling, and whose blonde wisps of hair kept poking her eyes.</p><p>The two finally rolled to a stop, and as the person on top of Marinette quickly stood up, Marinette’s eyes widened.</p><p>“Felix!?” She sputtered, pushing herself up to sit on the concrete.</p><p>“No time now,” Felix shot back. He reached down and grabbed onto Marinette’s arm, using it to yank her off the ground. “Run!”</p><p>Marinette dutifully obeyed, keeping her hand in Felix’s as they sprinted across the street and through the park. Marinette’s feet thudded against the ground, and her heart pumped double time in her chest.</p><p>“Was that…an akuma?” She asked, panting as she tried to keep up with Felix. Even though she was Ladybug, and ran around the city for hours on end practically every day, Felix’s long legs made his strides almost five times larger than Marinette’s. It was a struggle to keep up.</p><p>“No. That was a power hungry, magic princess,” Felix replied sarcastically, still running. “She calls herself ‘The Substitute’, and I think she’s mad at your class for misbehaving.”</p><p>“But I wasn’t even in class!”</p><p>“Case in point.”</p><p>Marinette grumbled to herself as the two rounded a corner, nearing the street again.</p><p>“Is Adrien okay?” She asked, her footsteps crunching in the grass.</p><p>Felix shot a glance over his shoulder, but otherwise made no comment. Marinette shook his arm.</p><p>“I asked you a question.”</p><p>Felix sighed exasperatedly, before pulling her down behind a park bench. They ducked low to the ground, and Marinette forcefully ripped her hand away from Felix’s.</p><p>“I’m sure Adrien is fine,” Felix said, breathing heavily, “he’s probably hiding in a stupid locker like the last fifty-thousand times an akuma’s attacked at school.”</p><p>Marinette shot Felix a dirty look, but he either didn’t see it, or chose to ignore it. <em>How typical of him</em>, Marinette thought to herself. It was just like Felix to think only of himself. He never cared about other people, and especially not Adrien. Even though the two boys were cousins, they were obviously not very close. Felix didn’t seem to like being close with anyone.</p><p>So why had he saved her just now?</p><p>The akuma cackled somewhere in the distance, and Marinette crouched down lower. She needed to get away so she could transform, but with Felix here…</p><p>“So…my parents are still at home. I should probably go make sure they’re okay,” Marinette fibbed, starting to slide backwards and away from the bench.</p><p>Felix looked back at her with wide eyes, his eyebrows rising so high they practically disappeared under his hair.</p><p>“Are you joking? There’s a blood-thirsty akuma back there! I thought you were smarter than my dim-witted cousin,” he said.</p><p>Marinette leaned forward, clenching her fists at her sides. “Adrien is <em>not</em> dim-witted!” She hissed.</p><p>“Yes he is! He’s always running back into danger! You’re just blind because you have a crush on him!”</p><p>Marinette’s mouth fell open. “I…I do not!”</p><p>The smirk on Felix’s face widened as Marinette’s cheeks turned bright pink.</p><p>“You so do.”</p><p>“I don’t!”</p><p>“Do.”</p><p>“Don’t!”</p><p>“Do!”</p><p>“<em>Don’t</em>-“</p><p>Marinette was cut off as the park bench the pair had been hiding behind was suddenly ripped out of the ground, scattering dirt and clumps of grass everywhere. The bench hung suspended midair for a moment before the rope holding onto it pulled back, and flung the bench across the park. It smashed into a tree with a sickening crunch, splintering into pieces and falling to the ground.</p><p>Marinette winced.</p><p>The crunch of grass in front of them brought Marinette and Felix back to their own position. They both looked up to see The Substitute standing before them, a wicked grin on her face. The rope slunk back to her, molding back into her stick.</p><p>“Thought you could hide from me, Marinette? Naughty child. I’ll have to send you to the principle’s office.”</p><p>The Substitute wound her stick back, as if preparing to strike. Marinette grit her teeth and threw her arms in front of her face, bracing herself for impact. But it never came.</p><p>“You’ll have to go through me, first.”</p><p>Marinette’s eyes flew open. She peeked through her fingers, and was shocked to see Felix standing defensively in front of her. He held a twisted pipe in his hands, seemingly one that had been ripped from the bench. He carried it like a baseball bat over his shoulder, prepared to swing.</p><p>“Fine by me. That just means more people in my detention,” The Substitute shrugged.</p><p>Marinette scrambled backwards as the Substitute lunges at Felix. He ducked, and then expertly blocked her stick with his pipe. It reminded her of a fencing move Marinette had seen Adrien perform once. Did Felix fence, too?</p><p>The Substitute growled, and swished her stick back towards Felix. He parried her. His pole sliced down towards her arm, but The Substitute quickly spun around and aimed a kick towards Felix’s stomach. He leapt back, but she was too close. Felix tripped over himself, landing with a ‘<em>fwump</em>’ on his bottom. His pole went flying, landing too far away for either him or Marinette to reach it. Felix scrambled backwards as The Substitute advanced.</p><p>“Have fun in detention,” she cackled, pointing her stick at his face.</p><p>Felix winced, drawing his arms up to shield himself, and that was when they heard it.</p><p>“Hey, Substitute! I thought you said there was no running in the halls?”</p><p>It was Adrien. He was on the opposite side of the park, sprinting like his life depended on it. He gracefully leapt over a bench before turning and giving The Substitute a teasing look.</p><p>“Red Rover, Red Rover, Substitute come over!”</p><p>The Substitute growled, lowering her stick from Felix’s face.</p><p>“Recess hasn’t started yet!” She cried before tearing across the field after Adrien.</p><p>As her footsteps faded into the distance, Marinette turned wide eyes on Felix.</p><p>“You saved me.”</p><p>Felix frowned. He pushed himself into a better sitting position, and reached up to fix his hair, avoiding Marinette’s eyes.</p><p>“Yeah, well…you obviously weren’t going to save yourself,” he muttered.</p><p>Marinette felt a smile tug at the corners of her lips as she watched Felix. His cheeks were red as he scowled down at the dirt, obviously embarrassed, and despite the attempt he had made to fix his hair, parts of it were still knocked askew. One specific tuft stuck straight up in the air like an antenna. Marinette found it difficult not to laugh as it waved in the wind.</p><p>“Well, thank you anyway,” she said, smiling as she stood up. She brushed the dirt off her jeans before glancing back at Felix. He was still sitting on the ground, but had finally raised his head to look up at her.</p><p>“I should probably get home and check on my family. Maybe you should head after Adrien? I hope he’s not in danger…” Marinette trailed off as a loud crash sounded in the distance. She needed to transform soon.</p><p>Felix snickered, lowering his gaze back to the dirt. ”What did I tell you about that kid and danger? Don’t worry, I’m sure <em>Ladybug</em> will catch him for me.”</p><p>He looked up as he spoke, and something knowing flashed in his eyes as they met Marinette’s. It was so quick, she nearly missed it. But it was undoubtable; it was recognition.</p><p>Marinette opened her mouth to say something, but another boom echoed across the park, and she clamped it shut. She couldn’t deal with this right now. There was an akuma that needed Ladybug’s attention, not to mention the fact that Adrien was now out there with it. She needed to get to them both before someone got hurt.</p><p>“S-stay safe,” Marinette breathed, before turning, and breaking into a run.</p><p>“You too, Marinette.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Shaking and Shivering</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Pairing/Characters: Marichat<br/>Chat gets stuck out in the rain and turns to Marinette for shelter.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>Tap, tap, tap…</em>
</p><p>Marinette squeezed her eyes shut harder. Maybe if she focused less on the sounds around her, she would finally fall asleep. The rhythmic pounding of the rain against her skylight had woken her up hours earlier, and she hadn’t been able to fall back asleep since. She had tossed and turned, shoved her blankets on and off, and then, even after the rain finally stopped, she couldn’t ignore the light tapping sound coming from above her. It was probably just the wind blowing, or perhaps a steady drip of leftover rainwater, but it was annoying nonetheless. She was half-tempted to get up and discard of whatever was causing the sound, but her bed was so warm. Maybe if the sound came again…</p><p>
  <em>Tap, tap, tap.</em>
</p><p>“M-Marinette? C-can you p-please…please open the door?”</p><p>Marinette shot up in bed with a screech. She quickly clamped a hand over her mouth; her parents were still asleep just downstairs. She turned her eyes to the skylight, and gasped. Crouched above the glass—water dripping off of his hair, nose, and cat ears—was Chat Noir. He smiled pathetically down at Marinette, and she jumped up to unlock the door for him.</p><p>“What are you doing here?” She asked as the skylight popped open. “Why aren’t you at home? It’s-“ She shot a glance over her shoulder at her alarm clock, “-two in the morning! And <em>freezing</em> out!”</p><p>Chat Noir grimaced, slinking down into Marinette’s room. Marinette winced as water dripped off of his suit and onto the bed, but didn’t say anything. Instead, she shoved a blanket into his hands, and ushered him to follow her down the ladder.</p><p>“I-I know. I’m really sorry. I g-got stuck out in the r-rain,” Chat explained, his speech punctuated by shivers.</p><p>Marinette frowned as she walked over to her vanity and grabbed a small hand towel. It wasn’t much, but it would have to be enough. She wasn’t about to go downstairs and risk waking up her parents. Especially not at this hour.</p><p>“It’s okay. I couldn’t sleep anyway,” she said, walking back over to Chat. “How’d you get stuck in the rain, though?”</p><p>Chat shrugged, his whole body giving a violent shake as he did. He pulled the blanket tighter around his shoulders.</p><p>“I c-can’t really explain without…y-you know…” Chat rolled off, and Marinette sighed. He couldn’t explain without putting his identity in jeopardy.</p><p>It was an odd circumstance, maybe, but Marinette had definitely seen worse from him before. A two a.m. run in with some rain was practically nothing compared to the other times Chat Noir had shown up on her balcony. The worst had been when he’d showed up in tears, practically shaking with anxiety because ‘<em>I messed up on a test and my dad’s going to ground me forever’</em>. That experience taught Marinette three things about Chat Noir that she hadn’t known before. First, his home life wasn’t like hers at all. Second, he was an all-A’s student. Last but not least, it taught her that when Chat was uncomfortable, he tended to scratch at his neck. Exactly like he was doing now.</p><p>Marinette pushed Chat down to sit on the chaise, and began to dry his hair with the hand towel. He was still shaking and shivering, but hopefully the blanket and towel would help. She forcefully pulled his hand away from his neck, fixing the blanket so that it covered his arms.</p><p>“So you were out in the rain for some undisclosed reason,” Marinette reviewed as she dried him off, “and decided to come here because…?”</p><p>“You were closest?” Chat tried, but his voice squeaked at the end.</p><p>Marinette raised her eyebrows, and Chat hunched over on the chaise, readjusting the blanket over his shoulders.</p><p>“Okay so m-maybe my father left town with his assistant, and I don’t want to go home to an empty house,” Chat grumbled, “b-but you really were closest to me.”</p><p>Marinette plopped herself down next to Chat on the chaise. The hand towel, now fully soaked, thunked to the floor with a satisfying sound as Marinette dropped it. She pulled Chat’s blanket tighter around him, rubbing his shoulders in an effort to warm him up.</p><p>“You have to go home eventually,” Marinette said.</p><p>Chat nodded, sighing shakily. “I know,” he admitted. “I’m just…p-procrastinating.”</p><p>“It’s going to start snowing soon with how cold this rain is. Then you’ll really freeze.”</p><p>Chat pouted at her. “I know, but can I just…can I stay a little longer?”</p><p>Marinette pursed her lips, her eyes unblinking as she and Chat engaged in a bit of a staring contest. Chat’s eyebrows raised as he stared at her. In this lighting, the flecks of bright green in his irises were easy to see. Marinette tried to focus on those, but eventually her eyes blurred and began to water. She blinked. Chat snickered as Marinette grumbled to herself and looked away—towards the floor.</p><p>“Fine, you can stay. Only until you’re dry, though,” she caved.</p><p>Chat’s eyes lit up, and he straightened up on the chaise.</p><p>“Really?”</p><p>Marinette laughed and rolled her eyes. “Yes, really. I don’t think Ladybug would appreciate you catching a cold before the next akuma attack.”</p><p>Chat smiled, giddily bouncing closer to Marinette on the chaise. She squealed as water sprayed off of him—droplets hitting both her, and the chaise cushions.</p><p>“What can we do?” He asked, eyes bright with excitement. He leaned closer to Marinette as he asked, and water dripped off the tips of his hair onto her lap. She scooted backwards, giggling.</p><p>“Maybe we can watch a movie later. I think you need to dry off a bit more first, though,” she grinned.</p><p>Chat looked down, and his eyes caught on the trail of water he had been making all over Marinette’s chaise. He smiled sheepishly, and pulled the blanket tighter around himself to catch some of the water.</p><p>“Sorry,” he apologized.</p><p>Marinette just shook her head, grinning.</p><p>“It’s fine. Maybe try and keep your puddles to yourself, though,” she teased him.</p><p>Chat grinned back at her, his head flopping to one side in a very cat-like manner. Marinette had to refrain herself from reaching out to scratch it. Usually, she enjoyed running her fingers through his hair, but she suspected that wet hair didn’t feel nearly as nice as dry hair did.</p><p>“So what movie do you want to watch? I found this new trick to get any movie online for free,” she said.</p><p>“Seriously?”</p><p>“Yeah. It’s a life-saver.”</p><p>“Can you teach me?“</p><p>“Why? You’re just going to use it to watch anime movies in school.”</p><p>Chat Noir gaped at Marinette, before clicking his mouth closed and blinking at her.</p><p>“Princess, I really think I need to stop coming here. You know me a little too well. It’s getting scary.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Panic Attack</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Pairing/Characters: Marichat<br/>TW!!!!!!!!!!!!!: this chapter features a panic attack (if you haven't guessed by the name lmao). Also, disclaimer: PLEASE KNOW that I am in no way an expert on this sort of thing.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>Crash!</em>
</p><p>Marinette jolted awake in her seat. Her hand slammed down on her desk, rattling it, and knocking over the jar of pencils sitting right next to her. They scattered across the table, a few dropping to the floor below as Marinette sat in stunned silence. <em>What in the world was that?</em></p><p>She turned, scanning her room for any signs of damage. The outfit she had been working on sat untouched on its mannequin. Her bed was a mess of rumpled blankets and pillows, but it was almost always that way now that school had started. Marinette glanced towards her vanity stand, only to discover that it looked exactly the same as it had prior to her falling asleep. Everything in her room was as it should be. Maybe something had fallen over in the kitchen downstairs, or maybe she had just imagined the whole thing. This was what she got for falling asleep while doing homework.</p><p>Drowsily, Marinette turned back to her desk. She looked down at her World History book, still open to the page about the Renaissance, and yawned.</p><p>It was only seven o’clock, yet Marinette’s eyelids had been dropping ever since she got home from school. It was a struggle to focus on the words below her, and even more so to actually think about what those words meant.</p><p>Groaning, Marinette slammed her history book shut. There was no point in reading if she wasn’t going to retain what she read. Especially if-</p><p>“Marinette?”</p><p>Marinette whirled around so fast that her chair caught on a slab of the wood floor, tipping her onto the floor. She landed with a thud, and winced as she rubbed her now throbbing elbow. That would surely leave a bruise tomorrow.</p><p>Glancing up towards her skylight, Marinette blinked the last revenants of sleep from her eyes. Chat Noir was sitting outside, his arm raised as if he had been about to knock. His other hand was tugging at a strand of his hair, twisting it in little circles as he waited for her to respond.</p><p>“Chat?”</p><p>“Can I…come in?”</p><p>It was then that Marinette noticed how heavily Chat’s chest was heaving. It rose up and down, up and down, as if he had just run a marathon. Chat Noir never breathed like that, not even after running away from an akuma. It was a product of the suit’s abilities: not having to work so hard in order to run long distances. It kept both Ladybug and Chat Noir from tiring out too quickly. So why in the world was he breathing like that? Why were his eyes open wide, darting around her room as if searching for something? Why was his hand shaking as he lowered it from his hair?</p><p>“Y-Yeah. Yes! Come in,” Marinette stammered, hurrying to sit up and fix the chair she had knocked over.</p><p>Chat opened the skylight, shakily stepped down and into her room. Now that he was inside, Marinette noticed that his breathing was almost audible. He panted in short little gasps, his breath wheezing in and out from between his teeth. He climbed down the ladder, still wheezing, and turned to face her.</p><p>“Chat Noir? What’s wrong?” Marinette began to ask, but before she could finish, Chat dropped to the floor and pulled his knees to his chest.</p><p>“I can’t… breathe,” he wheezed, burying his face in his knees, “can’t… breathe.”</p><p>Marinette’s whole body instantly froze in white hot terror. Only for a moment, though, before Ladybug instincts kicked in and she dropped to the ground beside him.</p><p>“Why? What happened? Do you need a doctor? An inhaler?” She asked, her hands shaking as she reached out to place them on Chat’s knees.</p><p>He didn’t look up as he responded, “No. No doctor. I-“ Chat cut off with a gasping breath before shuddering and sinking further into his knees.</p><p>“That’s it, I’m calling 9-1-1,” Marinette decided, shakily standing up. She was about to cross the room to grab her phone, before a tight hand around her wrist stopped her.</p><p>“No!” Chat practically yelled. Marinette turned to stare at him, and was surprised to be met with a tear filled gaze. His cheeks were streaked with tears, and as he blinked at her a few more fell from his eyes to the floor below. He sniffled miserably before turning away from her again. He still clutched her wrist in his hand, though. In fact, he squeezed it almost painfully hard as Marinette continued to stare at him.</p><p>“<em>Chaton</em>?” Marinette asked quietly.</p><p>Her only answer was Chat’s wheezing breath, and she sighed.</p><p>“Listen to me, Chat,” she said, coming to sit beside him. She used her other hand to pry his fingers from her wrist so she could slip her hand into his instead. His hand was warm, and wet with tears that he had tried to wipe away. “You can calm down now. You’re safe here. Here, I have an idea, find three things that you can feel right now.”</p><p>Chat’s hand tightened around hers a bit, but he did as she asked. He lifted her hand first, then rubbed his knee, then ran his fingers along the floor.</p><p>“Good. Now what about three things you can hear?”</p><p>Chat Noir sucked in a shaky inhale, glancing around the room.</p><p>“Y-you,” he said, his voice cracking, “and… the birds… outside… and…” Chat trailed off, bringing Marinette’s hand to his chest as he clutched it. His heart beat quickly underneath her hand.</p><p>“Just one more thing,” she whispered.</p><p>“I hear… plates… moving downstairs?”</p><p>Marinette nodded, squeezing Chat’s hand. “Yeah, I think my parents must be down there.”</p><p>Chat sighed, his breathing beginning to even out. He was still wheezing, but it was quieter now. His grip on her hand relaxed, and he took a deep breath.</p><p>“I’m sorry,” he said after a minute had passed, “I panicked, and… didn’t know where else to go.”</p><p>Marinette breathed a sigh of relief, smiling as she fiddled with Chat’s fingers.</p><p>“It’s okay, I’m happy to help. Are… are you okay, though?”</p><p>Chat shrugged, wiping his tears with the back of his hand. “Not really. I think I need to talk to Ladybug.”</p><p>“Oh.”</p><p>Marinette drew back a little, biting her lip and glancing away. Sometimes it was easy to forget that Chat Noir didn’t know her alternate identity. She slipped into her Ladybug persona so often around him; it was honestly hard to believe he hadn’t found her out already.</p><p>“Not… not that I don’t appreciate being able to talk to you,” Chat stammered, “it’s just… I found out who Hawkmoth is.”</p><p>Marinette‘s eyes flew open wide, and she inhaled so forcefully she choked on air. Spluttering and gasping for breath, she stared at Chat as he lowered his gaze down to the floor.</p><p>“You <em>what</em>?” She forced out, still coughing.</p><p>Chat nodded, and when he looked back up at Marinette, her heart sank. His eyes were puffy and filled with tears, and his expression betrayed a fear that Marinette had never seen in him.</p><p>“It’s bad,” he said, hiccuping as he struggled to get the words out, “it’s <em>really</em> bad. Marinette, I can’t even tell Ladybug the worst part. So if I tell you, you… you have to promise you won’t say anything.”</p><p>Marinette stared at Chat, dumbstruck, as he reached out and grabbed onto her hand.</p><p>“What’s the worst part?” She whispered.</p><p>Chat squeezed her hand once before letting go. “My dad,” he said slowly, “he’s my dad.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. I Know You're in There Somewhere</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Pairing/Characters: Ladrien</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was night when Ladybug came to visit him. The sky was black and full of stars, the wind blowing gently over the city of Paris. The Eiffel Tower‘s lights were off, but the street lights below had no problem illuminating the roads outside of Adrien’s window. Adrien watched the cars whiz by beneath him as he stared out his bedroom window.</p><p>It was eleven fifty-three at night, and Adrien couldn’t sleep. Usually, he was able to chalk it up to being too stressed, or maybe he accidentally drank something with a lot of caffeine before bed. This time, though, he couldn’t quite explain why he was awake. Or rather, he could explain, but it sounded strange even to him.</p><p>He had this terrible sense of <em>wrongness</em>. Something in the universe felt off. It was like something terrible was about to happen, or maybe something terrible had already happened and he just didn’t know. Whatever it was, it filled Adrien’s stomach with such a terrible feeling of dread that it felt like it was eating away at his insides.</p><p>Adrien turned away from the window. Moonlight illuminated his shadow on the floor as he traipsed over to his bed and picked up his phone. The screen lit up immediately upon contact, but there were no messages. No alerts from the Ladyblog, no texts, nothing. It shouldn’t have been surprising—it was nearly midnight—but the feeling of <em>wrongness</em> was so strong now that Adrien almost hoped that there was an akuma. At least that would explain how awful he felt.</p><p>Maybe he was coming down with something.</p><p>Just as Adrien was about to toss his phone back onto his mattress, a loud bang from his window startled him. His phone slipped from his hands, and he flailed his arms to catch it. It slipped through his fingers once, twice, before Adrien finally snatched it out of the air with both hands.</p><p>“Aha!” He cried out in triumph, spinning around to face the window.</p><p>His phone immediately fell to the ground.</p><p>Silhouetted against the window pane, pigtails mussed from the wind, stood Ladybug. She was perched on the edge of his windowsill, hand raised as if she had been about to knock. When she saw Adrien looking, she slowly lowered it to wave at him instead.</p><p>Adrien, snapping out of his stupor, hurried over to the window.</p><p>“Ladybug?” He asked, unlocking the window and pulling it open.</p><p>“Hi, Adrien. Sorry if I woke you.”</p><p>“No, no. I was already…” Adrien trailed off. His eyes had caught on Ladybug’s hand, the one he had just been about to take to help her into the room. It was still gloved by her suit’s magical fabric, but instead of being red with black spots, the colors seemed to have been reversed. Now, her suit was black with red polka dots. Even her ribbons had changed color, Adrien realized as she stepped down into his room. They were black, nearly blending in with her midnight blue hair.</p><p>Adrien felt the feeling of dread in his stomach sink deeper.</p><p>This wasn’t Ladybug, was it?</p><p>“I just wanted to stop by,” Possibly-Not-Ladybug said, turning to face Adrien. “I needed to make sure you were okay.”</p><p>Adrien blinked. “Why? What’s going on?” He tried not to stare to obviously at Ladybug’s outfit change, vehemently keeping his eyes focused on her face.</p><p>“Nothing. I just-“ Maybe-Ladybug sighed. She stepped closer to Adrien, whose eyes widened. “Everything’s fine. I just wanted to say hi to you.”</p><p>Ladybug reached forwards and took Adrien’s hand in her own. She threaded their fingers together, and peered up at him through her lashes. Adrien gulped.</p><p>“W-why me?” He squeaked out, shifting uncomfortably on his feet.</p><p>Ladybug dropped her gaze for a moment before looking back up and smiling, her eyes alight with something Adrien had never seen in them before.</p><p>“Because I love you,” she confessed.</p><p>Adrien could swear his heart stopped beating. Every nerve in his body went numb momentarily, before restarting with a flood of heat to his face. Ladybug gripped his hands tighter.</p><p>“You…you <em>what</em>?” Adrien stammered.</p><p>Maybe-Ladybug said nothing. Instead, she began to lean in, her eyes fluttering closed and lips puckering. Adrien’s eyes widened as he realized she was about to kiss him. Ladybug was about to kiss him. Ladybug, who had told him not even three nights ago about the other boy she liked. The other boy…the other…</p><p>Adrien’s phone pinged on the floor next to them. His eyes caught on the message as Ladybug continued to lean in. It was a Ladyblog Alert. Adrien squinted to read it, knowing that it was only a matter of time before the phone shut off again.</p><p>
  <em>Akuma Alert!: Reports of a strange looking Ladybug figure running around Paris have just been filed. Please be on high alert.</em>
</p><p>Adrien pulled back, ripping his hands away from Not-Ladybug’s grasp. He took three steps backwards, clutching his hands to his chest. His fingers automatically went to his ring, subconsciously fiddling with it. What if she knew he was Chat Noir and had come to take it? Was this all a trap?</p><p>“Who are you?” Adrien asked, still walking backwards away from her.</p><p>Not-Ladybug frowned at him, before a grin stretched wide across her face. Her teeth gleaned in the light from outside, and Adrien froze in place as she stared at him.</p><p>“Lady Misfortune,” she said, dipping into a mock curtsy, “at your service.”</p><p>Adrien’s heart began to beat almost painfully fast in his chest.</p><p>“You’ve been akumatized. What happened?” He asked, trying to hide his panic. If Ladybug was akumatized, who was supposed to purify her akuma? And who was going to fight her if she was here, talking to Adrien, who was Chat Noir who was Adrien <em>who was Chat Noir</em>!</p><p>Lady Misfortune waved a hand dismissively before crossing her arms over her chest. “That’s not important. What is important is protecting you.”</p><p>“From what?”</p><p>“From me.”</p><p>“Ladybug-“</p><p>“Lady Misfortune,” Lady Misfortune corrected.</p><p>Adrien sighed. “Lady Misfortune,” he began again, “you…you can’t be an akuma. Who’s supposed to purify you?”</p><p>“I don’t need to be purified,” Lady Misfortune said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.</p><p>Adrien shook his head.</p><p>“You do. Ladybug’s supposed to protect Paris. The city needs her, Chat Noir needs her, I…” Adrien looked down, scratching the back of his neck. “I need her.”</p><p>Lady Misfortune was quiet for a long moment, and when Adrien finally looked back up, she was watching him with a curious gaze. Something was wrong with her expression. It was as if every part of her face had the same expression except for her eyes. Her eyes were pleading with him, seemingly begging him to understand something lying just beneath the surface. Her eyes were Ladybug’s. The <em>real</em> Ladybug’s—not Lady Misfortune’s.</p><p>Adrien felt a spark of hope flare in his chest. He walked closer.</p><p>“I know you’re in there somewhere,” he said, taking Lady Misfortune’s hands back into his own. “Ladybug, please. I need you. I can’t do this without you.”</p><p>“A-Adrien?” Lady Misfortune said slowly, confused.</p><p>Adrien ignored it, staring into Lady Misfortune’s eyes as they widened. She wouldn’t remember this anyway, so what was the point of hiding?</p><p>“Don’t act so surprised,” Adrien grinned as Lady Misfortune continued to stare at him, “You know just as well as I do that Ladybug and Chat Noir aren’t even <em>half</em> as cool without their partner by their side. Whatever happened, whatever caused this, I’ll help you fight it. I’ll help you more than that dingbat in your head right now says he can.”</p><p>A purple glowing butterfly appeared over Lady Misfortune’s face, and Adrien chuckled.</p><p>“Yeah, you heard me, Hawkflop,” he said.</p><p>He pulled one of Lady Misfortune’s hands up to his lips, kissing it before squeezing it tightly.</p><p>“Hawkmoth can’t help you. In fact, he can’t help anyone. Think about all the times you defeated him. Hawkmoth can’t seem to achieve much, but you and me…” Adrien rubbed a quick circle in Lady Misfortune’s hand. “…you and me can take on the world, M’Lady.”</p><p>That was all it took for Lady Misfortune to reach down to her hips and hand Adrien her yo-yo.</p><p>“Break it,” she whispered, wincing as the purple butterfly mask appeared over her face again. “Please break it, Chat.”</p><p>Adrien took the yo-yo from her, holding it carefully in his hands. As he did, the glow radiating from Lady Misfortune’s mask got stronger. She wimpered, but continued to stand tall in front of Adrien.</p><p>Adrien smiled. <em>There</em> was his Ladybug.</p><p>Adrien glanced up at Ladybug one more time before raising the yo-yo in his hands. “Ladybug, I love you too,” he said, knowing that this was potentially his last chance to say it.</p><p>She shot him a wobbly smile. “I know.”</p><p>Adrien adjusted the yo-yo in his grip, and brought it down on his knee with a swift <em>crack.</em></p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Paralyzed by Fear</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Pairing/Characters: Marichat</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When Marinette turned the corner on her way to school, she didn’t expect to see Chat Noir standing—seemingly paralyzed—in front of a monstrous akuma.</p><p>The akuma was tall, almost half the size of the three story building next to it. It had spindly arms and legs that reminded Marinette of a spider. Concealing the top half of its face was a dark hood. The akuma loomed over Chat Noir with balled fists, and as if in slow motion, one of the akuma’s fists raised to strike. Yet, Chat Noir still stood frozen in place. Why wasn’t he moving? <em>Why wasn’t he moving?</em></p><p>As the akuma’s fist started to come down, Marinette leapt into action. She bolted into the street, running full speed towards Chat Noir. The akuma’s fist was getting closer, and Chat still wasn’t doing anything about it.</p><p>“Chat! Snap out of it!” Marinette yelled, right before she crashed into Chat Noir’s side.</p><p>The two fell to the ground, tumbling sideways across the cement. A second later, the ground shook as the akuma’s fist slammed into the spot Chat had been standing. Marinette squealed as the force caused her and Chat bounce, slamming them into the concrete again before finally rolling to a stop.</p><p>When Marinette finally stopped internally freaking out, she huffed, and pushed herself up off of Chat Noir.</p><p>“What the <em>hell</em> were you thinking?” She screamed down at him.</p><p>Chat Noir blinked underneath her, and that’s when Marinette noticed that his irises were glowing yellow. They weren’t even focused on anything, just staring upwards aimlessly. Marinette leaned in for a closer look, but right as she did, Chat’s irises faded back into their normal green color. He blinked again, and his eyes connected with Marinette’s.</p><p>“Marinette? What…what are you doing?”</p><p>Marinette squeaked, flailing backwards and away from Chat Noir. Her face burned. Hopefully, Chat Noir couldn’t see the pink blooming on her cheeks.</p><p>Chat rubbed his eyes as he sat up.</p><p>“What happened?” He asked, looking around.</p><p>Marinette opened her mouth to respond, but right as she did, Chat yelped and leapt forwards. He grabbed her around the chest, pressing her tight to him as he began to sprint.</p><p>“Come back, Kitty,” a deep voice boomed from behind the them. “We weren’t done reliving your nightmares.”</p><p>Chat Noir growled deep in his chest. It was low and rumbling, bubbling up like a purr, but sounding much more menacing. Marinette had never heard him growl like that before. He gripped her tighter in his arms, and Marinette glanced over his shoulder to see what had caused him to make such a noise.</p><p>Unsurprisingly, it was the akuma following close behind them. It trailed Chat as he weaved through parked cars on the edge of the street, and even as he used his baton to shoot the two into the air. Marinette buried her face in his shoulder as they went airborne, flying in the air for just a fraction of a second before Chat touched down on a roof and continued running. The akuma landed on the roof not even a second later.</p><p>“What is that?” Marinette asked, hoping to get some information for later, when she could finally slip away and transform.</p><p>She glanced up to see Chat’s eyes narrowed. He jumped clean over a chimney stack, grunting with the effort, before answering her.</p><p>“An akuma. I’m not sure what he calls himself, though.”</p><p>“Why did it turn your eyes yellow?”</p><p>“My eyes were yellow?”</p><p>Marinette nodded before realizing that Chat wasn’t watching her. He was too focused on the steps he was taking to get across the roof.</p><p>“Yeah, I think the akuma did something to you,” she said instead. “When I found you earlier I had to push you out of the way of his fist. You were just standing there.”</p><p>Chat frowned. “His power is making you relive your nightmares. I don’t remember being hit, but I guess I must have been.”</p><p>Chat ducked under a pipe before dropping down to an alleyway below. He did it in one swift motion, so swift, in fact, that the akuma didn’t seem to notice he had disappeared. The akuma crossed over to the next roof as Chat put Marinette down.</p><p>“Stay here,” Chat said, “I have to go distract this akuma until Ladybug shows up, but stay safe, okay? Find somewhere to hide.”</p><p>Marinette nodded, but before Chat could leave, she grabbed his wrist. He turned back to her, brow furrowed.</p><p>“Are you okay?” Marinette asked. “I mean…reliving your nightmares doesn’t sound particularly pleasant.”</p><p>Chat Noir stared at her for a long moment before his shoulders relaxed, and he cracked a smile.</p><p>“Don’t worry, it’s going to take a lot more than a few little nightmares to spook this cat. I’ve got thick fur.”</p><p>Marinette frowned at Chat as he giggled, but he nudged her shoulder playfully with his hand, and she smiled.</p><p>“Okay, fine. Just don’t get paralyzed by fear like that again. I won’t always be there to be your knight in shining armor,” Marinette teased, letting go of Chat’s wrist.</p><p>He flashed another smile at her—one of those cheesy, dorky smiles that always reminded her of the first day they met—before extending his baton.</p><p>“I’m not planning on it,” he said, “but thank you, by the way.”</p><p>Marinette shrugged. “It’s the least I could do. Now go, or Ladybug might start to get impatient.”</p><p>Chat Noir blinked, as if just remembering that he was supposed to be going after an akuma. Then he saluted her, pushed a button on his baton, and leapt away.</p><p>Marinette turned away, glancing down at her purse as Tikki unclasped it from the inside.</p><p>“Ready, Marinette?” The kwami asked.</p><p>Marinette grinned. “Ready. <em>Tikki, Spots On</em>!”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Worked Themselves to Exhaustion</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Pairing/Characters: Adrienette<br/>This one is actually kinda fluffy :)</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>Flick. Roll. Repeat.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Flick. Roll. Repeat.</em>
</p><p>Adrien watched for what seemed like the hundredth time as his pencil rolled back down his binder and into his waiting hand. Marinette sat beside him, her brow furrowed and tongue stuck between her lips as she concentrated on her homework. Her hair was tied back in loose pigtails, falling over her shoulders as she hunched over the desk. She wore pajamas, but Adrien—in his Ladybug themed sweatpants, and white tee shirt—couldn’t say he was wearing much better. It had been far too long a day to not be comfortable now.</p><p>The two teens’ late-night study date had been a spur of the moment decision. Chat Noir had mentioned it to Ladybug once after she complained about never having time to get school done with the amount of akumas almost every day, and she had rolled with it. She offered to let Adrien come over that night to get some homework done, and now here they were at 1am, both struggling to keep their heavy eyes open.</p><p>Well, Adrien was struggling. Marinette seemed to have done this millions of times before.</p><p>Adrien frowned, glancing over at her. Maybe she <em>had</em>.</p><p>Marinette suddenly looked up at him. “What’s up?” She asked, seemingly sensing his distress.</p><p>Adrien shrugged, pushing away from the desk to sit up straight in his chair. “Just tired. I don’t understand how you’re so focused right now. I can barely keep my eyes open.”</p><p>Marinette smiled, setting down her pencil and turning to face him more fully.</p><p>“Lots of practice,” she said, smoothing her bangs away from her face. “You know how I’m always late for school? It’s because I stay up late studying and then don’t hear my alarm the next morning.”</p><p>Adrien sighed. He glanced over at his open folder of homework. Pages upon pages of study guides, worksheets, and paper critiques made his folder look like it was about to burst. A few of the papers had already slipped out onto Marinette’s desk, the flimsy flaps of Adrien’s folder doing little to hold them back.</p><p>“I think hero duty should count as an excuse not to do homework,” Adrien pouted.</p><p>“Silly Kitty, you know that’s not how it works,” Marinette sighed. She reached over to scratch under Adrien’s chin, and he pushed into her touch. A corner of his mouth twitched upwards.</p><p>A month ago, right after Marinette and Adrien had accidentally revealed themselves to each other, this would have been weird. Marinette had been overly-reserved around both Adrien and Chat Noir after their reveal, flinching away from his touch and hardly speaking to him at school and on patrols. In fact, it wasn’t until Adrien pulled her into a closet during school and forced her to talk to him that she finally admitted what was bothering her.</p><p>Turns out, they had both been running circles around each other for quite some time.</p><p>Now that they knew all this, though, they seemed to fit into each other’s lives as easily as a key into its lock. It became nearly impossible for them to differentiate between their alter egos’ personalities. Chat Noir’s flirtatiousness blended into Adrien’s sweetness, and Ladybug’s confidence into Marinette’s clumsiness, and vice versa.</p><p>“Can we at least get a day off, then? I feel like we’ve worked ourselves to exhaustion.”</p><p>Marinette sighed, sliding off her chair and onto the floor. She gestured for Adrien to follow her, and he did. Slipping off the side of his chair and onto the floor, he took a criss cross position across from her. His eyes widened as Marinette pulled a pillow off her chaise and set it in her lap.</p><p>“Come here,” she said, smiling softly, “I don’t think this is just about being physically tired, is it?”</p><p>Adrien slid over to Marinette with a sigh. He placed his head on the pillow she had brought, and curled the rest of his body into a tight ball on the floor.</p><p>“No,” he admitted, “I’m tired of other things too. Like Lila, and my dad, and responsibilities. But it’s not like you don’t deal with those things too. Especially now that you’re interning at <em>Gabriel</em>.”</p><p>Marinette frowned, peering over Adrien’s blonde mop of hair to see his face.</p><p>“That doesn’t mean that you can’t still talk to me about those things. In fact, I’d <em>like</em> to talk about those things.”</p><p>Adrien glanced up at her. “Really?”</p><p>“Yeah, of course!” Marinette snorted. “You really think I’d give up a chance to roast Lila? Besides, we’re best friends. Best friends tell each other these things.”</p><p>Adrien’s brow furrowed before the corners of his mouth twitched upwards in a smug smirk. “I think we <em>both</em> know that we’re a little bit more than best friends, Mari. Wait, what are you… <em>hey</em>!”</p><p>Marinette grinned as she pulled the pillow out from under Adrien’s head and smacked him with it. He whined, rubbing his forehead.</p><p>“Stop denying the truth, Buginette. You know you couldn’t go a day without me,” he grumbled from under his arms.</p><p>“Mm, I could go a <em>year</em> without you.”</p><p>Marinette snickered at the offended look that crossed Adrien’s face, before continuing. “But I wouldn’t want to. Besides, who am I going to roast Lila with, then?”</p><p>Adrien immediately perked up, sitting up with wide and glittering eyes. “Ooh, ooh, I have a really good one.”</p><p>Marinette rolled her eyes. “Alright <em>Chat Noir</em>, let’s hear it.”</p><p>“Lila’s lies are so trashy that when the garbage man took the trash from outside of her house, he had to knock on the door because he could have sworn he smelt more garbage inside.”</p><p>“I think that roast was trashy,” Marinette laughed, “but A for effort.”</p><p>Adrien raised an eyebrow. “I’d like to see you do better.”</p><p>Marinette laughed. Homework completely forgotten, the two teens moved to lay down on the floor instead.</p><p>“Well actually, I have a list…”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Pinned by Wreckage</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Pairing/Characters: Marichat (don't come for me because so many of these are marichat. I was merely taking requests😅)<br/>Chat rescues Marinette from the wreckage of an akuma attack.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Chat Noir coughed as he stepped further into the dusty air caused by the Grand Palais’ collapse. Every inhale felt like someone was shoving a dirty sock down his throat, not just because of the smell, but also because of how thick the dust clouds were. They were smothering, surrounding him as he slid down a pile of rubble and further into the mess that BlockBuster had created.</p><p>The akuma, BlockBuster, had shown up about half an hour ago. Chat Noir wasn’t particularly sure why she was so angry, but it must have had something to do with an important building getting torn down because she had been ranting and raving about buildings being destroyed right before she slammed her wrecking ball into the Grand Palais. Luckily, he and Ladybug had gotten everyone out before the hotel collapsed, but now he was beginning to panic.</p><p>He couldn’t find Ladybug anywhere.</p><p>She had disappeared sometime between BlockBuster’s last pummel on the Grand Palais, and the time the building came down. If that wasn’t the shittiest timing in the world, Chat didn’t know what was. Because now, he couldn’t help but fear the worst.</p><p>Chat slid down another pile of wreckage, carefully hopping over a giant shard of glass.</p><p>“Ladybug?” He called out, spluttering as dust entered his mouth.</p><p>Frustrated tears pricked at the corners of his eyes when there was no response to his call. Thinking quickly, Chat whipped his cat-phone out from behind his back. He flipped it open, going to his contact list and finding Ladybug’s name. It was the first one. He raised his thumb to click on it, hoping to reach her easier this way, when…</p><p>“Chat Noir!” A female voice called out.</p><p>Chat’s cat ears perked up. He glanced wildly around him, but all he could see in every direction was the crumbled remains of the Grand Palais.</p><p>“Ladybug?” He asked, clicking his baton closed.</p><p>“Um…no! But I’m stuck down here!”</p><p>Chat tried not to betray how much his heart sank.</p><p>“Coming!” He called, forcing his tears back and ignoring the falter in his voice. He followed the girl’s voice to the left, dodging around large pieces of rubble until he saw a glimmer of pink amongst the dirt.</p><p>“I think I see you,” Chat said, bending down to begin lifting some of the rock away. “Can you move at all?”</p><p>The girl seemed to struggle for a moment before sighing. “Not really. If I move anything the rock above me will fall.”</p><p>Chat frowned, glancing up at the pile of wreckage covering the girl. It was slightly taller than he was, but he could still see the giant slab of concrete resting on top—effectively sealing the girl in. It looked too heavy for him to move on his own, but still, he had to try.</p><p>Chat carefully scaled the pile of wreckage. He payed close attention to where his feet were stepping, trying to keep his weight light. A piece of concrete slid from under his heel, and it skittered down the side of the pile to the bottom. Chat held his breath, but when nothing else seemed to happen, he continued reaching for the top.</p><p>Finally, Chat got his hands around the giant slab of concrete. He glanced down at the girl’s just barely visible pants.</p><p>“Okay, I’ve got the piece, but if I move it something else might fall. Can you cover your head?”</p><p>“Already done,” the female voice replied.</p><p>Chat inhaled slowly, trying not to choke on the dust filling his lungs.</p><p>“Okay, ready? 1… 2… 3!”</p><p>Chat gave a mighty pull, groaning with the effort as the giant rock gave way. Bits of rubble crumbled down and into the tiny cave the girl had been trapped in.</p><p>When the giant piece was securely out of the way, Chat pulled himself up and looked into the cave.</p><p>“Hey are you okay…<em>Marinette</em>?”</p><p>Marinette, her pigtails knocked out and bangs askew, glanced up at Chat and cracked him a small grin.</p><p>“Hey, Chat,” she greeted him.</p><p>Chat scrambled to pull a few of the other rocks loose. He pushed them aside so that he could step into the cave, and hurried to put his arm around Marinette’s shoulder. She slung her arm around his shoulders as well, wincing as he helped pull her to her feet.</p><p>“What are you doing here?” Chat asked, making a mental note that Marinette was definitely favoring one foot over the other.</p><p>Marinette sighed, reaching up to brush her bangs back into place. It didn’t work. They flopped right back in front of her eyes, but she made no move to fix them this time.</p><p>“I was…I was outside of the hotel. I guess I just got caught up in the mess, as usual. Ugh, I’m so clumsy.”</p><p>Chat frowned as Marinette looked away from him.</p><p>“Hey, don’t worry about it. I’m just glad you’re okay. Or well, mostly okay. You should probably get that checked out.”</p><p>Chat gestured to Marinette’s foot, and she moved it to hide behind her good leg.</p><p>“I’m fine,” she said, “it’s probably just a sprain. I can go get it checked out later. For now, think you can get us out of here?”</p><p>She coughed on the dust, adding emphasis to her request. Chat nodded, taking Marinette’s hand from around his shoulder and prepping his staff. He pressed a button on it, and extended them both up and out of the cave. He dropped down a block away, catching Marinette in his arms before gently lowering her to the ground.</p><p>“There’s an urgent care just across the street if you want to go get your ankle checked out now. Just be safe,” Chat said, lifting Marinette’s arm from around his shoulders in one swoop. She let go of him, carefully stepping away to face him instead.</p><p>“Thank you,” Marinette said.</p><p>Chat opened his mouth to respond that he was just doing his job, but before he could get any words out, Marinette stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him. She squeezed him tight to her, burying her head in his shoulder.</p><p>“I mean it,” she said as Chat tentatively returned her hug. She was warm around him, effectively blocking the chill from the late October wind. Chat couldn’t even remember the last time he had been hugged like this.</p><p>He sighed when Marinette pulled away. She smiled at him and turned to leave, but before she could, Chat reached out and grabbed her wrist.</p><p>“You…you didn’t see Ladybug in there at all, did you?” He asked, biting his lip nervously.</p><p>Marinette’s eyes widened, and her mouth formed a small ‘o’ shape. Her eyes darted around, seemingly at loss for something, before her shoulders dropped down and she smiled. She nodded, and Chat felt all the tension in his body slip away. <em>Thank</em> <em>god</em>.</p><p>“Yeah, I saw her right before the building collapsed. She said something to me about her transformation being about to drop, and she needed to get somewhere out of sight. I think she flew somewhere a few blocks down.”</p><p>Chat Noir blew out a breath, his shoulders slumping in relief. He felt like someone had just lifted a hundred-pound weight off of his shoulders.</p><p>He laughed, pushing his bangs out of his face as he looked back up at Marinette. “Thank goodness. I was worried that she…well, I guess it doesn’t matter now.” Chat extended his staff halfway, letting one end rest against the ground in preparation to take off. “I need to get back to the akuma attack. Are you okay on your own?”</p><p>“I’m fine, don’t worry about it,” Marinette said, making a show of hopping backwards towards the urgent care. “Go help Ladybug.”</p><p>Chat nodded, shooting Marinette a quick salute before extending himself into the air. She watched him go, then turned away from the urgent care and towards the alleyway on her right.</p><p>“Tikki? It’s time to transform…”</p><p> </p><p>When Ladybug made it back to the fight a few minutes later, Chat was too relieved to see her okay to notice the way she favored one foot over the other.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Slammed Into a Wall</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Pairing/Characters: Marichat</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When Chat Noir showed up to Marinette’s room late one night, he didn’t expect to be forcefully slammed into her bedroom wall and pinned there while Marinette scowled up at him.</p><p>“My, my, Princess. A little hasty now, aren’t we?” Chat joked, grinning down at her.</p><p>Marinette’s scowl only deepened. Chat blew out a long breath.</p><p>“Alright, what did I do?” He asked.</p><p>Marinette pulled back, taking her hands off of the wall and releasing Chat. He stumbled forwards, following her as she headed over to the chaise. She sat down with a huff, but Chat stayed standing. If asked, he would pretend that he just needed to stretch his legs, but really, he was afraid of what would happen if he sat down next to her. Marinette didn’t get into sour moods easily, but when she did, she would typically go off on whoever, or whatever, was closest to her. Right now, that just happened to be Chat.</p><p>Chat fiddled with the tip of his tail.</p><p>“Did you take my cat plushie?” Marinette finally asked.</p><p>Chat frowned. “Mr. Whiskers?”</p><p>She nodded. Chat dropped his tail, laughing as he ran a hand through his hair. He thought he had done something seriously wrong.</p><p>“<em>That’s</em> what this is about?”</p><p>Marinette’s face scrunched up, and she crossed her arms over her chest. “Yes. Do you have him or not?”</p><p>Chat sat down on the chaise, leaning back with a smile as Marinette glared daggers at him.</p><p>“Yes, I have him. You gave him to me to watch the last time you came over. Remember?”</p><p>When Marinette’s expression didn’t lighten, Chat blew out a breath.</p><p>“He’s at my house, Mari. And I promise I haven’t let Plagg touch him. I can bring him back to you right now if you really want me to,” he said, pointing his thumb towards the skylight.</p><p>Marinette frowned, but seemed to give up after a moment of consideration. Her shoulders dropped forwards, and she leaned into Chat with a small sigh.</p><p>“Sorry,” she said, “I think I’m just stressed out, and Mr. Whiskers is the usually the first thing I turn to.”</p><p>Chat glanced down at Marinette’s head on his shoulder. He bent over to give her hair a quick kiss, and almost immediately, his lips quirked upwards. She smelled like vanilla.</p><p>“It’s okay, I get it,” Chat said, pulling away slowly. “You know I’m always here for you though, right?”</p><p>Marinette nodded, her head rubbing against Chat’s shoulder.</p><p>“Of course I do. I’m guess I’m just not used to it. We’ve only been dating for a few weeks now.”</p><p>“Three weeks, five hours, and two minutes—to be exact,” Chat grinned, and Marinette let out a snort.</p><p>“Yeah alright, Dork. Why did I agree to go out with you, again?”</p><p>Chat chuckled, leaning back against his hands on the chaise.</p><p>“Because I’m the cunning, funny, ultra-charming Chat Noir, of course,” he teased her.</p><p>“Pfft. Yeah right.”</p><p>Chat laughed as Marinette lightly punched his arm. She giggled, and Chat’s heart did a flip in his chest.</p><p>He really couldn’t remember when he had fallen for her. Unlike when he fell for Ladybug, there wasn’t a specific moment Chat could pinpoint for when Marinette had really, truly, caught his eye. There was no heart-shattering, eye-opening revelation. There was no grand speech or gesture that she had made, no fancy dress or hairstyle donned, and there had <em>definitely</em> <em>not</em> been any sentimental words. In fact, most of the time he spent with Marinette was filled with childish banter, teasing, and laughing until someone snorted or said they were going to pee their pants or couldn’t breathe or…. Chat could go on for hours.</p><p>He looked down as Marinette shifted. She laid her head down in his lap, pulling one of his arms so that it rested over her stomach. The corners of her mouth turned up at him, her blue eyes sparkling dangerously, and Chat gulped.</p><p>Maybe <em>that</em> was what he had fallen for.</p><p>Marinette snickered, presumably at Chat’s shocked face, before narrowing her eyebrows at him.</p><p>“I want my cat back tomorrow, just so you know,” she mock scolded him.</p><p>Chat nodded, trying to keep his facial expressions completely serious.</p><p>“Of course, Princess. And what time shall I return Mr. Whiskers to your palace?”</p><p>“Hmm, how about precisely the same time you came here tonight? I’ll leave the light on.”</p><p>Chat nodded. “Sounds <em>purrfect</em>.”</p><p>Marinette immediately groaned. She rolled off of Chat’s legs, effectively rolling herself off of the chaise and onto the floor below. She hit the ground with a ‘fwoof’, laughing as Chat gasped.</p><p>“<em>Mon Dieu</em>, are you okay?” He asked, sliding off the chaise to sit next to Marinette. She only laughed harder, a snort escaping her mouth before she had time to cover it.</p><p>“I’m fine!” She laughed, rolling so that her face was pressed against Chat’s knee. “See what happens when you pun too much, though? People could die!”</p><p>Chat scrunched his face up, only serving to make Marinette laugh harder. She looked up at him briefly—her face bright red from laughing, eyes glittering—and Chat felt his heart stop. Because of course he had fallen in love with her. And of course he couldn’t remember when she had caught his eye. She had <em>always</em> caught his eye, just in smaller ways. Ways that took a little longer to add up, but when they did, it was so obvious.</p><p>Of course he had fallen for her. She was his Everyday Ladybug.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Drowning</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Pairing/Characters: Marichat<br/>Tw: drowning</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Marinette lost consciousness before she even hit the water. The Seine swallowed her body up as soon as it made contact. Icy waters swept through her clothes and pulled her down, down, down towards the bottom. Her pigtails came loose, wisps of raven colored hair flowing gracefully around her face as she descended further…further…<em>further</em> into the depths of the Seine.</p><p>When her eyes fluttered open a few moments later, her lungs were already burning. She had inhaled water on her way down, and now she was choking, trying desperately to take in air that didn’t exist.</p><p>Marinette glanced up frantically. The surface of the Seine was glistening above her, but it was quite a few feet away. The logical part of her brain knew she would never make it—her lungs were on fire and black was already seeping into the edges of her vision—but she struggled upwards anyways.</p><p>It took her longer than it should have to recognize that her arms weren’t responding quickly enough to her brain’s request. Her legs struggled to kick. All of the muscles in her body seemed to be frozen, and it finally made sense when Marinette glanced down and realized that goosebumps lined her arms. It was too cold. It was too cold and her body was freezing.</p><p>She looked upwards again, straining her neck to catch a glimpse of the sky above. It was hard to see beyond the Seine’s surface, but a few stars were visible through the waves. They flickered in and out of focus as slow waves passed by overhead.</p><p>Marinette had once heard that drowning was the most peaceful way to die. As her tired limbs finally gave up, and the blackness clouded her vision even further, she couldn’t help but think that whoever had told her that was right. Her eyelids grew heavy, her lungs filled with so much water that they didn’t even recognize the need for air anymore. She had imagined that drowning would feel this way.</p><p>Her last thought, right before the darkness swallowed her whole, struck her as odd, though. As her eyelids slid shut, and her world went dark, Marinette wondered: “<em>what in the world is that shadow thing?…</em>”</p><p>Marinette’s breath came back to her in one fell swoop. She shot up, hands hitting against something hard and rough beneath her. What the hell was that? The last thing she remembered was being underwater. Had she died? If she was dead, why was her stomach turning as if she was about to….</p><p>As Marinette turned to retch onto the ground, she realized that the rough surface she had slammed her hands onto was cement. <em>Cement</em>. Cement! Oh dear god, cement! Cement that she could feel with her hands! Incredibly cold, and nearly numb hands, but hands! She was alive! She was <em>alive</em>? How in the world was she alive?</p><p>“Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god.”</p><p>Marinette turned around, her eyes taking a moment to focus on the person sitting next to her—Chat Noir. He was on his knees next to her, his lower legs bent outwards as he sagged down in relief.</p><p>Marinette opened her mouth to say something, but another wave of nausea forced her to turn away, coughing more water up and onto the sidewalk. Her whole body shook. It was far too cold outside to be sitting here, drenched in water from the Seine. She needed to go inside <em>right now</em>. Well, right after she had regained some composure, and figured out what happened here. Because honestly, Marinette wasn’t quite sure how she had survived.</p><p>Before she could try and voice any of those thoughts, though, two arms encircled her. They drew Marinette back and against something soft and warm, and Marinette, utterly tired and cold and confused, did nothing to push them away. Instead, she sagged against the warm body as it pulled her close. She listened as Chat let out a shaky breath above her. He pressed his face into her shoulder, and it took her a minute to realize that it wasn’t just her shivering—he was shaking as well.</p><p>“What…what happened?” Marinette choked out. She tried to turn her head to catch a glimpse of Chat’s face, but he held her tightly in place.</p><p>He didn’t answer, so Marinette gave up with a sigh, sinking into him as he breathed shakily against her shoulder. They stayed like that for a few moments, wrapped up in each other. Marinette’s legs slowly regained feeling, and she shuddered as pins and needles ran up them. Apparently, Chat took this as his cue to finally speak.</p><p>“Don’t <em>do</em> that,” he said, voice quivering. “Oh my god, please never do that again. I can’t do <em>that</em> again.”</p><p>Marinette swallowed heavily, realizing what he was implying. “Did you…?”</p><p>Chat nodded. His hair dripped droplets of water down Marinette’s arm, but she chose to ignore it.</p><p>“I’m s-sorry,” she said, wincing at the shudder in her voice. She couldn’t help it; her teeth were chattering too loudly.</p><p>Chat only squeezed her tighter, pressing his forehead more forcefully into her shoulder. He held on to her as if someone was about to rip her away forever, and in a way, maybe someone had been.</p><p>“Don’t apologize,” he finally breathed, “it’s the akuma’s fault. They hit you.”</p><p>“N-no. It’s H-Hawkmoth’s fault.”</p><p>Chat blew out a breathy laugh. He finally raised his head from Marinette’s shoulder, and she was shocked to see the tears running down his face as they made eye contact. She knew that Ladybug meant everything to him, but this wasn’t Ladybug’s life he had just saved. It wasn’t Ladybug who had been knocked into the Seine by Hawkmoth’s latest victim. It had been Marinette.</p><p>“What’s w-wrong?” She asked. Her arms felt like they weighed one-hundred pounds, but she raised one anyway to wipe the tears from Chat’s cheeks. He smiled at her then, briefly, but long enough to reassure Marinette that he was okay.</p><p>“You almost just died, and yet you’re asking <em>me</em> what’s wrong?” He asked, laughing and reaching up to wipe his own eyes.</p><p>Marinette gave him a small smile. “Y-you’re the one crying about it.”</p><p>Chat laughed harder before reaching out and pulling her back into him. He let out a choked whimper as she shivered against him.</p><p>“You scared me,” he admitted. “I saw the akuma pick you up and knock you over the head, and then she just…she just hurled you into the Seine. I was waiting for you to come back up so I could help you get out, but you…you didn’t.”</p><p>“It was really cold.”</p><p>Chat nodded, his bangs brushing against the back of her neck.</p><p>“I know. I dove in after you when I didn’t see you come back up. I had to pull you back up, but by the time I got out…” Chat trailed off.</p><p>“Hey, I’m not dead,” Marinette said quietly.</p><p>“I know,” he replied, “but you were so close. You…you weren’t breathing, so I had to…” He trailed off again, but this time he didn’t bother trying to start again. Instead, he curled his tail protectively around Marinette’s wrist.</p><p>“Can we go inside?” She asked, deciding that changing the subject was probably best at this point. Also, ice was beginning to form on her wet clothes.</p><p>Chat immediately nodded. He slid his legs out from under her, and pulled her to his chest bridal style before standing. Marinette normally would have protested against this, demanding he set her down and that she could walk perfectly fine on her own, but right now her legs felt like frozen jelly. She didn’t trust them to hold her upright, let alone trek all the way across the street to the bakery.</p><p>When the two reached the bakery’s front door, Chat glanced down at Marinette before pushing the door open, and walking inside. Immediately, warm air surrounded them. The smell and temperature of the bakery made Marinette’s eyes heavy, but she stubbornly kept them open as Chat carried her in.</p><p>“Marinette?”</p><p>“Marinette!”</p><p>Marinette turned her head as both her parents immediately rushed to meet her and Chat. Tom reached out to take Marinette from Chat Noir’s arms, but she pushed his hands away. She ignored Chat’s protest as she stepped down from his arms. Her legs felt like jelly, exactly as she guessed they would, but after a moment she let go of Chat’s arm and stood all on her own. He gave her a concerned look, but she only smiled at him.</p><p>“Thank you for saving me, Chat Noir,” she said quietly, before turning to face her parents. They were only too quick to fuss over her, asking what had happened and why she was soaking wet. They squeezed at her hair with rags from the bakery, and pulled her over to sit near the oven and warm up for a bit.</p><p>Marinette turned, opening her mouth to ask Chat if he wanted to join her, but by the time she fully turned around the bakery’s entryway was empty, and Chat Noir was gone.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. It's All My Fault</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Pairing/Characters: Marichat<br/>Marinette get's a concussion during an akuma attack and Chat is tasked with carrying her home.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“It’s all my fault, it’s all my fault, it’s all my fault.”</p><p>Chat made a leap from one building to the next. His boots clattered against the concrete as he landed, but he ignored them and continued to run. He had more pressing issues right now besides landing stealthily. One of those issues was curled up against his chest, her eyes closed and breath coming in quiet puffs. Chat glanced down at her as he leapt over another gap between roofs.</p><p>Marinette’s hair had been blown over her face from the force of the wind, and her whole body drooped in Chat’s arms. He felt rather like a parent dragging along a toddler when they went “boneless”—or decided that they were unwilling to walk on their own. Only, this was no toddler, and Marinette wasn’t just being stubborn.</p><p>“Mari? Hey, you have to stay awake,” Chat called down to her. He could barely hear himself over the sound of the wind whipping in his ears, but Marinette shifted slightly in his arms, letting him know she was listening.</p><p>“Mm up,” she slurred, curling tighter into Chat Noir. She made no effort to open her eyes.</p><p>
  <em>Beep, beep, beep, beep!</em>
</p><p>Chat swore as his Miraculous began to count down.</p><p>“Can you open your eyes? I need you to look at me,” he spoke to Marinette, trying to ignore the pit of dread pooling in his chest. His ring was counting down the minutes, a revenge-seeking akuma was still on the loose, and Marinette was struggling to stay awake after being hit in the head with the akuma’s weapon. This was not good, not good at all, and Ladybug still hadn’t shown up. Where was she?</p><p>Marinette let out a snort against Chat’s chest, dragging him back into reality.</p><p>“Why would I open my eyes? So you can flirt with me?” She asked.</p><p>Chat’s eyebrows furrowed together. “No? Maybe so you can <em>not</em> die, or go into a coma, or…or whatever.”</p><p>Marinette laughed, the sound carrying through the wind to Chat’s ears. Despite the situation, he allowed himself a small smile.</p><p>He wasn’t quite sure when Marinette had stopped stuttering around him—the Adrien version of him—but at some point she had, and ever since that day the two had grown much closer. They studied together in the library, hung out at the park, and casually invited each other to different events they were hosting. For Marinette, that was a Halloween party she and her parents had thrown just a few weeks ago. For Adrien, he invited Marinette to every fashion show or shoot he possibly could. He knew that she loved watching not only the designs, but also the behind the scenes work, and every time Marinette brought her sketchbook backstage with her, Adrien secretly hoped that one of the designers would see her work and offer her the chance to showcase her designs onstage.</p><p>Point was, they had finally fallen into a comfortable friendship with each other. And Chat would be damned if he let an akuma take that away from him.</p><p>“Silly Kitty. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this worried.”</p><p>Chat grit his teeth as he heard a loud boom come from a few blocks behind him. The akuma was no doubt on another rampage. He could only hope that everyone back there had already evacuate, or at least holed themselves up somewhere safer.</p><p>“You’re not seeing me if your eyes are closed. And you’d be worried too if you weren’t so out of it.”</p><p>“I am not out of it,” Marinette retorted. “All I did was get hit in the head.”</p><p>“<em>‘All I did was get hit in the head’</em>,” Chat mimicked, and Marinette breathed an exasperated huff.</p><p>“Just drop me at my house. I’m tired.”</p><p>“No kidding. I’m dropping you at a hospital. You obviously have a concussion that needs to be looked at.”</p><p>Marinette shook her head. “I can’t go to a hospital. I gotta go fight some bad guys.”</p><p>Chat laughed, shaking his head in disbelief. “Sure, Marinette.”</p><p>“I do have to,” Marinette slurred, “I’m Ladybug. Gotta save Paris, duh.”</p><p>He knew that she had to be delusional. She obviously had a major concussion—her slurred speech, drowsiness, and loss of consciousness earlier were obvious signs of that. Her statement still made Chat’s breath catch in his throat, though. For half a second, the world stopped spinning as he stared down at the girl in his arms. She definitely looked similar to Ladybug, now that he thought about it. Her bangs blew in the wind, revealing the dark, circular earrings Marinette seemed to wear every day. Did she own other earrings? Why were those so special to her? Where was Ladybug, anyway?</p><p>Chat ground back to reality as the rooftop ended and he was forced to jump across to the next building. He landed in a crouch, pulling Marinette closer to himself and staring at her.</p><p>“You’re Ladybug?” He asked, his teasing smile wavering.</p><p>Marinette’s eyes finally cracked open, hints of sky blue peering up at Chat Noir’s face. She stared at him almost quizzically, as if she couldn’t believe that he still wasn’t understanding her.</p><p>“Mhm,” she mumbled, “of course I am, Minou.”</p><p>Chat Noir’s eyes widened. He knew he had to move, but his feet felt glued in place. That was the nickname Ladybug had given him. The nickname that Ladybug had called him for almost a whole year now. The nickname <em>only</em> <em>Ladybug</em> even knew existed. Unless…had Alya somehow caught it on tape?</p><p>Chat thought back through all the documentaries and videos the Ladyblog had put out. His mind was pulling up blank, but there had to be some other explanation. Marinette being Ladybug would mean…would mean…</p><p>“Okay, I’ll humor you,” Chat said, shakily standing up as a loud boom sounded behind them, “if you’re really Ladybug—“ his voice lowered to a whisper, “—tell me something only she would know.”</p><p>Marinette’s eyes were just barely open, but her eyebrows screwed up in concentration as she thought about Chat’s request. He could see her struggling to think through it. Her concussion obviously wasn’t helping things, and Chat thought, yet again, that she definitely needed to get to a hospital.</p><p>He picked up the pace and leapt to the next roof.</p><p>“I got it,” Marinette spoke. “Once, a few months ago, you came to my balcony talking about how Ladybug didn’t show up for that date you had planned.”</p><p>“It wasn’t really a date,” Chat huffed, “but yes. But that doesn’t prove-“</p><p>“Shh, I’m not done,” Marinette shushed him. Chat’s mouth clicked shut.</p><p>“After defeating Glaciator, she did show up. And she…” Marinette took a breath, squeezing her eyes shut.</p><p>“Are you okay?” Chat asked, glancing down at her worriedly.</p><p>“Fine. I just…she came, and then she told you she was in love with someone else. You said you were okay with it, and that you were fine with just being friends. You kissed her cheek, <em>my</em> cheek, and…” Marinette trailed off again, opening curious eyes to look up at Chat. “You weren’t really okay with that, were you.”</p><p>Chat’s mouth had suddenly gone very dry. He swallowed as best as he could, trying ignore the way his heart pounded in his chest.</p><p>“How do you know that?” He whispered, almost scared to hear the answer.</p><p>Marinette let out a breathless laugh, her eyes now fully closed.</p><p>“I told you, I’m Ladybug. Also, when you lie, your nose twitches.”</p><p>“You’re going to be mad later that you told me. You’re only saying this to me now because you’re delirious,” Chat breathed. His mind felt like a merry-go-round whirring at top speed. The versions he had made of two people he had known for a significant part of his life were slowly blending together.</p><p>Marinette was the one who rolled her eyes at his puns on patrol. Ladybug was the class president who stammered her way through sentences and was always at <em>least</em> ten minutes late. Marinette was the one who could purify akuma, and quite literally kick bad guy ass. Ladybug was the one who accidentally dumped flour on Jagged Stone’s head, and designed clothes that could put Chat’s own father to shame.</p><p>“Delirious? I’m not delirious,” Marinette cut into his thoughts. She took a slight pause, then glanced up at him again. “Did you know that it’s very hard to focus on what you’re saying when your head feels like it’s about to explode?”</p><p>Chat Noir laughed, the sound a mixture of humor and awe before it cut off into a happy sob. He pulled Marinette closer to his chest, feeling her heart beat against him as he ran.</p><p>“M’Lady.”</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“You know how I feel about you, right?”</p><p>Marinette’s eyes locked onto his face immediately, confused. “Yes.”</p><p>Chat nodded. “Good. Then you should know that this—” he gestured between them, “—doesn’t change anything.”</p><p>Marinette’s expression softened, and she reached upwards to wrap her arms around Chat’s shoulders.</p><p>“Thanks Kitty,” she murmured. “I love you too.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. Ambulance Ride</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Pairing/Characters: Lukanette</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Civilians really needed to stop protecting her.</p><p>She could understand it when Chat leapt in front of her as Ladybug. He knew that she was the only one who could purify akumas and restore everything. It didn’t make her approve of his reckless actions, of course, but at least it was slightly more understandable.</p><p>When <em>Luka</em> jumped in front of Ladybug during an akuma attack, that was <em>completely</em> uncalled for.</p><p>Ladybug spun around, her mouth falling open as she registered the blue-haired boy leaping in front of her. His arms were spread wide like a shield, preventing the akuma in front of him from impaling her. Instead, the akuma slashed her weapon at Luka’s torso, and he screamed—a blood curdling scream that would haunt Ladybug’s nightmares for months to come—before dropping to the ground and curling in on himself.</p><p>Ladybug didn’t realize she had been screaming too until her lungs began to burn from lack of oxygen. Hot tears stung her eyes as Luka grit his teeth below her, his white shirt slowly turning crimson.</p><p>“Hahaha! What are you going to do now, Ladybug? Save one civilian, or the whole city?”</p><p>Ladybug tore her eyes away from Luka. She raised her face to the cackling akuma, and saw red as her fists clenched at her sides.</p><p>“How DARE you!” She shouted.</p><p>Stepping forward, Ladybug swung her fist towards the akuma. She nailed her in the jaw, sending the akuma staggering backwards to the ground. Before the akuma could get up, Ladybug bent down and swooped Luka up into her arms. She shot a hard look behind her before tossing her yo-yo out and zipping away.</p><p>Luka groaned against her chest as she finally dropped down a few blocks away. Carefully, so as not to pain him any further, Ladybug lowered him to the ground and knelt beside him.</p><p>“What were you <em>thinking</em>?” Ladybug shouted as soon as Luka was on the ground. She glanced around, looking for something to quell the blood currently staining Luka’s shirt, but the street sidewalk she had landed on was completely barren.</p><p>
  <em>Beep, beep, beep, beep!</em>
</p><p>Ladybug sighed as her earrings began to shrill. Of course her luck would choose <em>now</em> to run out. Really, there was only one option left for her.</p><p>“Okay, listen. I’m about to do something I should <em>never</em> do, so I’m relying on you to forget this,” Ladybug said. She crouched down on the ground, using Luka’s jacket to seep up some of the blood. “Tikki, <em>Spots Off</em>!”</p><p>Immediately, a warm buzz of energy shot up Marinette’s body. Her suit dissolved away in bright pink light, leaving her breathless and still panicking as Luka blinked up at her.</p><p>“Marinette?” He asked, his voice hoarse.</p><p>Marinette shushed him, tears stinging her eyes as she ripped her jacket off and began to bunch it around Luka’s wound. Once it was secure, she scrambled for her purse. Inside, she found her cellphone, and hurriedly typed the three numbers she’d never hoped she would have to call. As soon as an operator answered, Marinette gave her location, as well as requesting an immediate ambulance. She hung up a minute later, squeaking when she felt Luka’s fingers brush up against her arm.</p><p>“You’re going to be fine, okay? Help is coming,” she assured him.</p><p>A loud crash sounded a few blocks away, and Marinette flinched.</p><p>“You have to go,” Luka said, catching Marinette’s eyes as she glanced down at him. “The city needs Ladybug.”</p><p>Marinette’s voice wavered as she spoke. “But you need Marinette.”</p><p>Luka managed a small smile, letting his head tilt to the side as he stared up at her.</p><p>“It’s just an ambulance ride. I think I’ll be okay. You just said I would be, remember?”</p><p>Marinette nodded slowly. She reached up to swipe some of the tears from her cheeks, sniffled, and blew out a long exhale.</p><p>“Okay. Okay, I’m good. I need to go, but-“</p><p>Marinette cut off as ambulance sirens wailed in the distance.</p><p>“Go. I’ll be okay. I promise.”</p><p>Luka carefully lifted an arm up towards Marinette. He extended his pinky finger, and she linked it with her own in a silent promise.</p><p>“Okay. I’ll swing by the ER after I’m done.”</p><p>“I’ll be fine after the cure.”</p><p>“Still.”</p><p>Luka chuckled. “Our everyday Ladybug, huh? Adrien told me about that one.”</p><p>He laughed again before cutting himself off with a pained cough. Marinette pressed the jacket a little harder to his stomach, biting her lip as the wailing of sirens got closer.</p><p>“I really shouldn’t be. Not if other people have to keep protecting me.”</p><p>Luka frowned, taking a shaky inhale.</p><p>“Marinette…”</p><p>Suddenly, the sound of sirens pierced the air around them. An ambulance rounded the corner, pulling up to the two with surprising speed. A paramedic immediately jumped out, running to kneel beside Marinette and Luka on the ground.</p><p>“Good job keeping calm,” he told the two, “these akuma attacks have really gotten violent recently. Don’t worry, though, you’re in good hands.”</p><p>Marinette watched as more paramedics appeared from inside the ambulance. They helped load Luka onto a gurney, then into the ambulance. The door slammed behind them, and then they were off. Marinette stood there a moment, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth, before finally turning away. She glanced down at Tikki in her purse, who gave her a sympathetic smile.</p><p>“Alright,” Marinette exhaled, wiping the remainders of tears off her cheeks, “let’s fix this. Tikki, <em>Spots On</em>!”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0013"><h2>13. On the Run</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Pairing/Characters: Adrinette<br/>This is a sequel to "Panic Attack" but there's a timeskip.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Adrien slammed the trunk of the tiny, silver car; effectively locking his suitcase inside. After deliberating about it for exactly zero point two seconds earlier, he had decided that taking multiple suitcases on this trip wasn’t a necessity. What was a necessity, however, was getting out of Paris as soon as possible.</p><p>Adrien brushed his hands off on his jeans. The car had dark red rust dusting the back of it, but nothing that couldn’t be fixed eventually.</p><p><em>Eventually</em>.</p><p>That’s what Ladybug had said to him after they defeated Hawkmoth, while he sobbed uncontrollably into her chest, and the police escorted Gabriel Agreste away to jail. The officers told him that Gabriel would be serving a life sentence for crimes of terrorism, attempted murder, and child abuse. They said that if they’d had any idea about Gabriel’s treatment of his son, they would have had child services out at the mansion a long time ago. They also said that they weren’t planning on telling Adrien any of this until they could get the news about his father being Hawkmoth to him, since he currently didn’t seem to be around. Little did they know that Adrien Agreste was actually standing right there, forcing his tears back and pretending to be okay.</p><p>He was so <em>sick</em> of pretending.</p><p>As soon as the police left, he broke down. Ladybug had immediately pulled him into her arms, and not for the first time, Chat was grateful for the way they seemed to instinctively understand each other. He buried his face in her hair, breathing in her scent as she rubbed circles in his back.</p><p>“Eventually,” she whispered, her voice cracking, “eventually, it’ll be okay. I promise.”</p><p>“N-no,” Chat had blubbered out, “you don’t understand. Hawkmoth, he’s…he’s…”</p><p>“Your father.”</p><p>Chat blinked in surprise, a sob hitching in his throat. “How…how did you know that?”</p><p>Ladybug pulled back to give Chat a watery smile. “Tikki, <em>Spots Off</em>.”</p><p>Now, two days later, Adrien rounded the corner of the car, his lips curving up in a small smile as he spotted her. Marinette leaned up against the side of the car—purse, phone, and a water bottle all clenched in her hands. She grinned at him as he approached, then tapped the roof of the car.</p><p>“So this bad boy was a gift from…the Gorilla?”</p><p>Adrien nodded, popping the driver’s side door open so that Marinette could slide through to the passenger’s seat. He climbed in after her, pulling the door closed with a satisfying slam.</p><p>“Yup. He said it used to be his car before he started working for my father.” Adrien turned in his seat to face Marinette. “Did you know that the first words I ever heard out of his mouth were ‘here’s your new car’?”</p><p>Marinette winced, reaching up to tug her seatbelt down over her chest.</p><p>“Not to be rude, but I always thought that he was mute,” she admitted.</p><p>Adrien laughed, swiveling back to the steering wheel and turning the key into the ignition. The car coughed and spluttered to life, sounding absolutely horrible and like it could break down at any second, but all the tension in Adrien’s shoulders released at the sound. This car was something that was actually his, something his father couldn’t take away from him at the snap of his fingers. Of course, it wasn’t like Gabriel could do that anyway now that he was in prison. Regardless, it meant the world to Adrien that the Gorilla had given him the one thing his father never had: freedom.</p><p>“Are you ready for this?” Adrien asked.</p><p>Marinette’s seatbelt clicked, and she shot him a breathtaking smile. “Only if you are.”</p><p>Adrien gripped the gear shift, pulling it downwards and pushing his foot on the brake.</p><p>“I’m more than ready. I don’t think I’ve ever been this excited to leave Paris. And I’ve definitely never left it like this before.”</p><p>“You never used to be able to leave Paris at all,” Marinette reminded him with a small smile as Adrien took his foot off the brake and steered the car onto the street. “Superhero duties, remember?”</p><p>Adrien gave a wistful smile. “True. I left anyways though, on occasion.”</p><p>“Really? Oh, you mean like when we had that class trip to London and the train driver got akumatized?”</p><p>Adrien nodded, and Marinette leaned back in her seat.</p><p>“<em>Pfft</em>. That doesn’t count. We still had to do superhero work,” she said.</p><p>“Yeah, yeah, sure. But I’ve been to London even before then, with my…<em>yeah</em>…and the Tsurugis. Remember when you gave me that doctor’s prescription?”</p><p>Marinette groaned, and Adrien cackled from the driver’s seat.</p><p>“Don’t remind me. I want that day forcefully burned from my memory.”</p><p>“Sorry, but I don’t think I’m ever going to let you forget that.”</p><p>Marinette covered her face with her hands and turned away from Adrien.</p><p>“Loser.”</p><p>“Your loser.”</p><p>The car was silent for a moment. Adrien kept his focus on the road, changing lanes occasionally so that he could make the turns. Marinette continued staring out the window, one of her elbows resting against the edge of the glass. As Paris breezed by outside, she felt the smallness of herself for the first time in what felt like a long time. Ladybug and Chat Noir were effectively retired after defeating Hawkmoth, but since Marinette was the Guardian now, she had allowed both herself and Adrien a choice to retain their Miraculous. She had been pleasantly surprised when Adrien chose to keep his. She secretly thought that he would have given Chat Noir up because of all the trauma his father had put him through. So when he stubbornly shook his head and pushed the ring further down onto his finger, Marinette’s heart had swelled.</p><p>“So if this isn’t your first time leaving Paris, and I’m assuming it isn’t your first time being on the run either…”</p><p>Adrien shook his head, recalling all the times he had evaded his bodyguard’s surveillance by sneaking out. Nope. Definitely not his first time running away.</p><p>“Then what is this?”</p><p>The car slowed to a stop at the next red light, and Adrien sighed as he slid his hands up to rest on top of the steering wheel. He bit his bottom lip as he pondered Marinette’s question. Truthfully, he hadn’t really thought much about this trip. It just felt right. It felt like something he needed to be doing, and something that he needed to be doing <em>with</em> Marinette.</p><p>Finally, he turned to her.</p><p>“This is a break. But not really a break from reality, or anything. In fact, I <em>want</em> reality. I just want <em>this</em> reality.” Adrien reached over to take one of Marinette’s hands. “<em>You</em> reality. Throughout my whole life, all people have ever done is left me. You’re the one person who’s stayed.”</p><p>Marinette’s cheeks flushed as he spoke, turning a pink color that rivaled her jeans. Her eyes grew wide, and her mouth popped open in a slight gape. Adrien watched her, smiling sheepishly as a blush of his own spread across his cheeks.</p><p>“You’re the only person I feel like I can be totally myself with. I just want to go somewhere where I don’t have to worry about being anyone else, you know?”</p><p>Marinette let her head drop in a slow nod. She reached up to fiddle with one of her earrings, and a smile gradually stretched across her face.</p><p>“I think I know what you mean,” she said. “I feel that too.”</p><p>Adrien shot her a grateful smile before the light turned green, and he shifted the car back into motion. Never in a million years had Adrien ever expected everything that had happened recently to be a part of his life, but it had, and there was no one else he’d rather have gone through it with.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0014"><h2>14. Silent Treatment</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Pairing/Characters: Gabriel and Adrien (NOT A SHIPPPP)<br/>#GabrielAgresteisoverparty!!!!!!!1!1!1!</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When Gabriel joined Adrien for breakfast that morning, the whole Agreste Manor seemed to quake in anticipation. This never happened, and everyone knew it. Adrien—who had been sitting at the far end of the table, forlornly shoving his sausage around on the plate—knew it. Nathalie, standing next to him with her tablet in hand, also knew it. Even the Gorilla, about to walk through the dining room to grab his car keys, knew. In fact, the only one who seemed unaware of the miracle taking place seemed to be Gabriel. He sat down across the table from Adrien, taking a moment to brush himself off before looking up.</p><p>Adrien’s fingers loosened, and his fork slid through them. He scrambled to catch it before it hit the plate, but in his haste his hand smacked the fork to the left. It hit the wall before clattering loudly to the floor. There was a long moment of silence, and Adrien gulped. He looked away from the fork on the floor and back towards his father.</p><p>“Father? You…ah….” Adrien trailed off, expecting his father to explain, but Gabriel said nothing. He simply turned his eyes back down towards his plate, picking up his fork as if he hadn’t just witnessed Adrien launch his own across the room.</p><p>Adrien swallowed slowly. He scooted forwards in his chair, deciding that it wasn’t worth it to get up and retrieve his fork. Instead, he picked at the fruit on his plate with his fingers.</p><p>“So…what are you doing today, Father?”</p><p>Adrien’s words echoed off the walls around them. He was just trying to strike up a conversation. He couldn’t remember the last time he and his father had a normal conversation, one that didn’t involve commands to change positions from a pose, or times to be picked up and dropped off, or questions about which jacket fit and which ones didn’t even reach his wrists. It was only an innocent question. Yet, Gabriel didn’t respond, and suddenly Adrien felt as if the whole room had constricted.</p><p>He knew what this was. He was all too familiar with the look of distain tainting Gabriel’s face. And if the tight lipped mouth of his father didn’t tip Adrien off, the deafening silence in the dining room definitely did the trick.</p><p>This was the silent treatment.</p><p><em>What had he done</em>?</p><p>Adrien took a long breath in. He didn’t <em>think</em> he had done anything wrong recently. He had arrived at school on time every day this week, only missed class once for an akuma attack (and that was excused since the whole school had been forced to go into lockdown during the attack), and had gotten good grades on all of his tests. On top of that, he had stayed near the Gorilla when told to, attended all the modeling shoots Nathalie scheduled him, and even dressed up for a charity gala that he and his father had been asked to attend. So why was he getting the silent treatment now?</p><p>“Father, I…”</p><p>Gabriel didn’t look up from his plate, and Adrien felt frustrated tears sting his eyes.</p><p>He remembered, a long time ago, his father had given him a similar silent treatment. Adrien had been six years old at the time, and he remembered tearfully running down the hall to his mother’s study after trying and failing to get Gabriel’s attention. Emilie had swooped him up into her arms, rocking him back and forth as he sobbed into her shoulder. When he’d finally calmed down enough to speak, Adrien had explained how his father wasn’t speaking to him anymore, and asked if he was mad at him. Emilie only kissed his forehead, though, and began to sing a lullaby.</p><p>
  <em>“A little kitty on a roof…”</em>
</p><p>‘<em>All alone without his lady</em>,’ Adrien thought to himself. He glanced down at his schoolbag propped up beside the chair. Plagg’s green eyes were just barely visible in the depths of the bag, but Adrien could see the sympathetic look his kwami was sending him. Somehow, Plagg’s face only made him more frustrated.</p><p>Adrien felt his heartbeat speed up and his muscles tense. He grit his teeth, looking back across the table towards his father. Somehow, in the time Adrien had been mulling in his own thoughts, Gabriel had acquired a magazine. He had it propped up on the table next to him, his eyes skimming over the pages while he ate. He seemed utterly unperturbed by Adrien’s anxiety, which only served to push Adrien’s anger further over the edge.</p><p>Abruptly, Adrien stood up. His chair slid along the wood floor with a loud screech, probably leaving a mark, but he couldn’t find it in himself to care much. Not when Gabriel barely looked up.</p><p>“Father, are you really not going to talk to me?”</p><p>Gabriel did look up at this, his eyes catching on Adrien’s. The two stared at each other for a long moment, neither willing to look away first. Finally, Gabriel closed his eyes and set down the magazine.</p><p>“I’m not happy with the way you’ve been acting recently,” he said.</p><p>Adrien’s eyebrows rose. “What?”</p><p>Gabriel leaned back in his chair, and crossed his hands in his lap. He said nothing, though, and Adrien felt his anger spike.</p><p>“I’ve done <em>everything</em> you told me to do this week. <em>Perfectly</em>,” Adrien said. His voice warbled as he tried not to raise it. “I followed my schedule, turned in all my homework, and got A’s. I listened to Nathalie, went to tutoring, and attended every single one of your modeling shoots. What more do you want from me?”</p><p>When Gabriel still said nothing, Adrien shook his head.</p><p>“Fine. I’m leaving for school before I’m late. Tell Nathalie not to bother scheduling fencing lessons for today. I’m not going.”</p><p>Adrien picked up his bag, slinging it over his shoulder as he began to walk out of the dining room. He almost expected Gabriel to forget about the silent treatment in favor of calling out for him to come back, or maybe even to yell at him. He almost expected Gabriel to stand up and declare that he would no longer be allowed to attend school. Almost. But in the long run, he knew that Gabriel’s silent treatment would win out. It always did. The only one who had ever been able to appease Gabriel enough to the point where he paused his childish game had been his mother, and she…she wasn’t here anymore.</p><p>Adrien bit the inside of his cheek to keep his tears in check. Then he swung open the dining room door, and walked out without so much as a glance behind him.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0015"><h2>15. Falling From a Great Height</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Pairing/Characters: Adrienette</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When the akuma first cornered both Adrien and Marinette at school, Adrien hadn’t been aware that would lead to getting strapped to the top of the Eiffel Tower and left there as bait.</p><p>“We have to get down from here,” Adrien called over to Marinette. They were stranded on the very tip of the Eiffel Tower, tied to a long pole with some sort of elastic rope. Adrien wasn’t quite sure what it actually was—it had come out of the akuma’s weapon. Whatever it was, it had rather effectively tied both himself and Marinette back to back on the pole. There was barely enough room to breathe, let alone move.</p><p>“How?” Marinette called back to him.</p><p>Adrien glanced around. The sight below made his vision swim for a second. City buildings looked like little boxes from up here, and all the cars looked like little ants. It was dizzying, and Adrien wrapped his hands tighter around the pole behind him.</p><p>Despite his higher than usual vantage point, he still didn’t see anything useful to get both himself and Marinette down. He sighed. Coming up with plans was usually Ladybug’s job. She was much more strategic and focused. Hopefully she would show up soon, and…</p><p>“Wait, I’ve got it.”</p><p>Marinette’s voice startled Adrien out of his thoughts. He tried to turn around to see what she was doing, but the rope around him was too tight. He settled for calling back to her over the wind, which had picked up speed.</p><p>“Got what?”</p><p>There was a shimmying sound, and suddenly the rope around Adrien dramatically loosened. He yelped as he began sliding down the pole, the rope just barely holding him up.</p><p>“Ooh! Sorry! I forgot to warn you. Turn towards the pole so we can slide down it!”</p><p>Adrien furrowed his eyebrows together in confusion, but did as he was told. Slowly, he shifted around to face the pole, and was surprised to find Marinette already facing him.</p><p>“How’d you loosen the rope?” He asked her, his face only about a foot from hers.</p><p>She smirked. Her cheeks were astoundingly red, but Adrien assumed it was from the freezing cold wind surrounding them.</p><p>“I’m just really good with knots,” she said, “now link your legs with mine and we can slide down.”</p><p>Adrien followed her directions, kicking his legs out until they made contact with Marinette’s. She looped her feet around his ankles, linking them together.</p><p>“Okay, hold on!” She said.</p><p>The rope seemed to loosen even more, and suddenly they were both sliding towards the bottom of the pole. Adrien clung to Marinette’s legs with his ankles, squeezing until she let out a light chuckle.</p><p>“Are you scared of heights?” She asked, sounding amused.</p><p>Adrien’s eyebrows shot up. “No, no. Not at all, actually,” he chuckled. “I just-“</p><p>Without warning, Adrien’s foot hit the platform the two were supposed to land on. It would have been fine if he had kept his legs twined with Marinette’s, but—overestimating his ability out of his superhero suit—Adrien let go of Marinette to place his legs down. At the same time, a large gust of wind blew, pushing him back and forcing him to let go of the pole. He stumbled backwards, and barely had time to register Marinette screaming his name before he was free falling off the side of the Eiffel Tower.</p><p>“Adrien!” Marinette’s strangled scream got lost in the wind rushing passed Adrien’s ears.</p><p>He flailed his arms in the air, frantically searching for something to grab on to even though, realistically, he knew it was no use. He was too far away from the tower now to grab onto it, and even if he could reach, his arms would probably be ripped off from the force.</p><p>“<em>Transform</em>!” Adrien heard Plagg hiss from inside his jacket.</p><p>“I can’t! Not here!” Adrien shouted back, squinting his eyes against the force of the air. The ground was steadily growing closer and closer beneath him. It was only a matter of time before he hit the cement.</p><p>Briefly, Adrien’s thoughts flickered to Marinette. Was she watching him fall? He hoped not. What would she think if he died? What would she think if he <em>didn’t</em>? If he transformed before he could hit the ground? Would she look at him differently because he was Chat Noir? Why did that even matter to him?</p><p>Adrien, lost in his own thoughts, didn’t notice the two arms wrapping around his torso until he heard his name screamed right next to his ear.</p><p>“Adrien! Hold on tight!”</p><p>He recognized that voice. He knew that voice. But how had she…?</p><p>Suddenly, something made a zipping sound next to Adrien’s ear, and then he was flying. The wind whistled in his ears as the city grew smaller beneath him. Not dramatically smaller. Actually, the way it gradually shrank and expanded as they moved through the air was rather familiar. Too familiar…</p><p>“Ladybug?”</p><p>Adrien heard a sharp inhale next to his ear, confirming his suspicions.</p><p>“Yes. Are you okay?”</p><p>“I’m fine. How’d you get to me in time?”</p><p>There was a short pause in which the city shrank and expanded beneath him again. The sidewalk was growing gradually closer, though, and Adrien guessed that Ladybug was choosing to slowly work her way down to the ground with her yo-yo.</p><p>“I…I saw you fall.”</p><p>Adrien frowned. “Did you get the akumatized villain?”</p><p>Ladybug shook her head. “No. Not yet, but um…”</p><p>Abruptly, Adrien jolted in Ladybug’s arms. “Marinette! My friend, Marinette, she’s still back there on the Eiffel Tower! You have to go back!”</p><p>Ladybug’s yo-yo caught on a low rooftop, and she gracefully swung them both down to the ground. She slid to a stop on the street before setting Adrien down. He immediately turned to face her, but was surprised to find her face practically beet red.</p><p>“Don’t worry, I’ll get Marinette down, but I’m sure she’s fine.” Ladybug said quickly. She brushed the bangs out of her face hastily. “In the meantime, I would go take shelter somewhere before the akuma finds you again.”</p><p>Adrien glanced towards the Eiffel Tower in the distance. He hoped Marinette was still okay up there. Maybe she had managed to get down on her own. She must have had some sort of plan brewing, seeing as she got them both down from the rope fairly easily.</p><p>“Okay,” Adrien finally agreed, “I’ll go. Just…please make sure she’s safe. She’s one of my best friends.”</p><p>Ladybug’s expression softened. Her cheeks bloomed pink, and she smiled down at the ground.</p><p>“I will,” she said quietly, “I promise.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0016"><h2>16. Claustrophobia</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Pairing/Characters: Ladrien</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Ladybug slammed the closet door closed before shoving herself back against the side of it. Her other hand fumbled to stay over Adrien’s mouth, keeping him from making any noise. She could feel his lips underneath her hand, and struggled not to think too much about it. There were more pressing issues at hand, such as the akuma they were currently hiding from. If she found them…</p><p>“Ladybug,” Adrien whispered from beneath her hand.</p><p>Ladybug shushed him, pressing a firm finger to his lips. Her eyes were slowly adjusting to the darkness inside the closet, but she could only just barely see the dark outline of Adrien’s shoulders across from her. Obediently, his mouth closed.</p><p>They waited a few more seconds in heavy silence, until it was clear the akuma wasn’t in the area anymore. Ladybug lowered her hand from Adrien’s mouth in favor of unclipping her yo-yo from her waist. She brought it up to her face and slid it open, scrolling through the few contacts she had until she got to Chat’s name. She pressed on it, and waited in silence as the yo-yo quietly rang. And rang. And <em>rang</em>…</p><p>“Shit,” Ladybug muttered when it went to voice mail. Where was that cat? She could really use his help about now.</p><p>“Ladybug?”</p><p>Ladybug finally looked up, making eye contact with Adrien. Her yo-yo’s screen illuminated the dark closet, and she immediately noticed that Adrien’s eyes looked panicked. His eyebrows were furrowed, and his chest rose and fell quickly. He let out a breathy laugh, raising an arm to rub behind his neck.</p><p>“Ah…I don’t mean to bother you…but I really…<em>really</em>…don’t like small spaces,” he said.</p><p>He tried to smile at her, but a corner of his mouth wavered, giving him away.</p><p>Ladybug gasped.</p><p>“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry. I completely forgot. I-”</p><p>Ladybug fumbled for the door handle, banging her elbow against the side of the closet in the process. She winced, but finally managed to get her hand around the handle. A little push down, and a shove, and…</p><p>The door didn’t budge. Ladybug tried again, pressing the handle all the way down and shoving on the door as hard as she could. Nothing.</p><p>“Well that’s just miraculous,” she muttered.</p><p>Adrien’s breathing picked up behind her, and she turned to face him. “I am so, <em>so</em> sorry. I’ll get us out of here, okay? I think the door is just jammed on something outside. Maybe the akuma blocked it with her ice.”</p><p>Adrien nodded his head, and Ladybug could see sweat beginning to bead on his forehead. She stepped back as far as she could, trying to give him space while she figured out what to do.</p><p>The closet was warm and stuffy, and coats brushed up against her as she moved. Unfortunately, none of them would help her get out of the closet. One of them caught Ladybug’s attention, though. It was red with black trim, and a little ladybug was painted on the right lapel.</p><p>“I’ve got an idea,” Ladybug said. “Stand back. <em>Lucky Charm</em>!”</p><p>Ladybug tossed her yo-yo up as high as it would go in the crammed closet. It sparkled in the air for a moment before dropping a bright red space heater into Ladybug’s hands. For the first time in a long time, Ladybug grinned as she realized that she didn’t have to think very hard to use this Lucky Charm. She propped the space heater against the door crack, and cranked it up to the highest level of heat.</p><p>“It’s about to get a little hot in here, just warning you,” Ladybug said. Her eyes widened as she felt a warm hand slip into her own and squeeze. She turned to look at Adrien, and he shot her a forced smile in the dark closet. His hand was still gripping hers, and Ladybug felt her cheeks warm.</p><p>“Sorry. Is this okay? I just…it helps” Adrien stammered sheepishly.</p><p>Ladybug, who felt as if all the air had left her lungs, nodded her head dumbly. Adrien didn’t seem to notice her shock, though. He gave a relieved sigh, and Ladybug’s eyes unconsciously flickered down to his lips.</p><p>“The…um…the Lucky Charm is going to heat up…up…the ice from the akuma. I bet that’s what’s blocking us in,” she murmured. This moment felt to intimate to speak loudly.</p><p>Adrien didn’t say anything, only nodding. Ladybug noticed with a quick jolt of her heart that his eyes were also flitting back and forth between her eyes and her lips. Did that mean what she thought it meant? Did he…</p><p>Ladybug’s thoughts were cut off as a loud popping noise sounded from outside the closet. The ice must have began thawing, because another crack sounded a moment later, and water began dripping onto the closet floor below them.</p><p>Reluctantly, Ladybug pulled away from Adrien. “I think we can force the door open now.” She let go of Adrien’s hand to push on the door handle, and sure enough, the pressure split the rapidly melting ice outside, allowing the two teens to squeeze through the closet doors. As they finally stepped back out into the light of the school locker room, Adrien breathed a heavy breath of relief.</p><p>“Thank you, Ladybug,” he said, closing the closet door behind them.</p><p>Ladybug turned to him, a small grin making its way across her cheeks. “No problem. I hope you feel better now.”</p><p>Adrien gave a breathy laugh. “I do. Thanks for understanding.” He looked down, biting his lip and trying to calm his still shaking hands. Ladybug noticed, and after a moment’s hesitation, took his hands in her own. Before she could change her mind, she popped up on her toes and pressed a quick kiss to Adrien’s cheek.</p><p>He gaped at her as she stepped back, but Ladybug didn’t offer him much time to speak. Instead, she gave him a flustered wave before turning and running off after the akuma.</p><p>If Chat Noir looked any more lovestruck than usual that day, Ladybug didn’t notice…</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0017"><h2>17. Loss of Sight</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Pairing/Characters: Ladynoir</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The moment the akuma’s spray hit her face, Ladybug knew she was a goner. It didn’t matter that she had squeezed her eyes shut, or that, as soon as the spray hit, she wiped as much of it away from her eyes as possible. It didn’t matter because it was magic. And magic didn’t abide by any rules.</p><p>“Ladybug!”</p><p>The panicked voice of her partner somewhere behind her made Ladybug’s eyes fly open. Only, she still couldn’t see anything. She blinked, and blinked again, but to no avail.</p><p>Her hands flew out in front of her as she instinctively began to panic. She knew this was coming. She knew that this akuma’s power made its victims go blind. Yet, that knowledge didn’t seem to matter much when the world around her was completely dark.</p><p>“I can’t see,” she said, flailing around for something to grab on to, “I <em>can’t see</em>.”</p><p>The akuma cackled, but Ladybug could no longer tell exactly where it was standing. Her hands instinctively went to her yo-yo for protection, but she fumbled over the string and couldn’t quite get the right grip on it. Plus, she had no aim.</p><p>Disoriented and panicking, Ladybug felt tears well up in her eyes and she whimpered.</p><p>Suddenly, something clashed a few feet away from her, and then someone’s warm hand grabbed her arm. Ladybug screeched in surprise, and immediately tried to kick the person off, assuming that it was the akuma after her earrings.</p><p>“<em>Ouch</em>! Ladybug, hey! It’s just me!” Chat’s voice broke through Ladybug’s panic, and she stopped fighting as he guided her along. “Keep running. Once we get somewhere safer you can hop on my back and I’ll carry you.”</p><p>“Carry me?” Ladybug scrunched her nose up. “You can’t carry me and fight at the same time. That’s dangerous!”</p><p>“You can’t see. How are you supposed to tell when the akuma’s coming towards you?”</p><p>Ladybug frowned. “I’ll…I’ll just know.”</p><p>Chat Noir laughed, and Ladybug followed him as he changed directions and headed off to the right. He kept her wrist firmly in his grip, guiding her as the akuma’s furious screeching became further and further away.</p><p>“Sure you will,” Chat chuckled. “Don’t worry, I promise I’ll be <em>purrfectly</em> safe.”</p><p>Ladybug only grunted, but apparently Chat took that as a sign that she finally agreed with him, because the next thing she knew, she was being hoisted up onto his back. Chat guided her arms around his neck before wrapping his arms around her legs. Instinctively, Ladybug wrapped her legs around his torso, locking her ankles together in front.</p><p>“Hold on tight. I’m about to extend my baton in 3…2…”</p><p>There was no “one” before Ladybug suddenly found herself launched upwards. The wind rushed over her face as she and Chat soared towards the sky.</p><p>Ladybug tightened her arms around Chat’s neck, and he laughed lightly.</p><p>“What’s wrong? Scared of heights, Bugaboo?”</p><p>“Only when I can’t see them,” Ladybug huffed. “Do you think I’ll get motion sickness?”</p><p>“Do <em>not</em> vomit on the suit. Plagg would kill me,” Chat said.</p><p>Ladybug laughed. The wind changed direction as Chat presumably began dropping back towards the ground. It whistled in Ladybug’s ears, and made her cheeks tingle.</p><p>“Where’s the akuma?” She asked, hoping she was close enough to Chat’s ear for him to hear her.</p><p>She felt a sudden jolt, and then the familiar up and down motion from all the times Chat had carried her across rooftops in the past. They were definitely running now.</p><p>“I’m not sure, but I left her back by the Eiffel Tower so I’m assuming she’s still somewhere around there.”</p><p>Ladybug nodded against Chat’s shoulder.</p><p>“Okay. If you can get the akumatized item, I can purify the akuma.”</p><p>Chat chuckled, and Ladybug heard the sound of his boots sliding down something before they leapt into the air and landed again.</p><p>“Leave it to you to still plan things out without being able to see.”</p><p>“Chat Noir, are you sure that’s a ladybug on your back? Seems more like a blind bat.”</p><p>Ladybug bristled as she heard the akuma’s voice. Chat seemed to have the same reaction, since his arms subconsciously tightened around her.</p><p>“Don’t insult M’Lady,” he said, and Ladybug felt a wave of affection sweep through her chest.</p><p>The akuma laughed. “What? Don’t appreciate puns today?”</p><p>Instead of replying, Ladybug felt Chat lunge out at the akuma. There was a twang of metal against metal, and then Chat jumped to the side. He started running again, at some point bending down to skid low to the ground. Ladybug squeezed her legs tighter around his waist, struggling to hold on.</p><p>“No, I just don’t find it cool to make fun of someone with a—“ There was a pause as Chat leapt over something. “—disability!”</p><p>There was a zapping sound only a few inches from Ladybug’s ear, and she screeched against Chat’s shoulder.</p><p>“What was that!?”</p><p>“Don’t worry! Just-”</p><p>Suddenly, Chat yelped and fell forward. Ladybug screamed as she was blindly catapulted from his back, instinctively covering her head and rolling over herself. She popped up completely unharmed, and felt around with her hands for Chat Noir.</p><p>“Chat? Chat? Are you okay?” She asked.</p><p>There was no answer, but Ladybug had absolutely no idea where she was in space, so she was hesitant to move more than a few inches in any direction. She felt along the ground with her feet, trying to find Chat. Suddenly there was a coughing sound, and Ladybug turned towards it.</p><p>“I’m okay! Just got kicked into the Seine, but…<em>Ladybug duck</em>!”</p><p>Ladybug immediately dropped into a crouch, covering her head with her hands. She felt a whoosh of air above her, right where her head had been less than a second ago.</p><p>“Ladybug! How does it feel to be unable to protect your city?”</p><p>Ladybug frowned, her fists clenching at her sides. Chat yelled at her to go right, and she rolled in that direction, smiling as she felt the akuma flounder next to her. She stood up, planting both fists on her hips.</p><p>“I think I’m still perfectly able to protect Paris, thank you very much.”</p><p>Ladybug hopped over the akuma’s leg as she felt it try to swipe her feet out from underneath her.</p><p>“Your yo-yo! To the left!”</p><p>Ladybug followed Chat’s instructions, zipping her yo-yo out to the left. It hooked onto something, and Ladybug pulled it taut. The akuma let out a strangled scream, and Chat cheered from…well…wherever he was now.</p><p>“The akuma’s in her bracelet! I’m sure of it!” Chat called over to her.</p><p>Suddenly, there was a clanging sound against concrete, and something wet dropped down beside Ladybug. She flinched, but the person chuckled, and Ladybug immediately recognized the sound as Chat’s voice.</p><p>“<em>Cataclysm</em>!”</p><p>Ladybug heard the disintegrating sound of the akuma’s object being destroyed, and instinctively released her yo-yo.</p><p>“Time to de-evilize. Bye, bye little butterfly!” She called out, praying that her yo-yo had actually enclosed the akuma. “<em>Miraculous Ladybug</em>!”</p><p>Ladybug felt the wave of magic coming before it even touched her. It was warm and tingly, a familiar sensation after all the akuma attacks she and Chat Noir had been through. The wave passed her eyes, and Ladybug squeezed them closed. What if her sight didn’t return? She knew it was silly to be worried, the magic ladybugs had never failed before, but she couldn’t help feeling scared to open her eyes. She felt warm hands encase her own, and she squeezed her eyes shut harder, knowing it was Chat Noir.</p><p>“I’m nervous,” she admitted.</p><p>“Don’t worry. Open your eyes.”</p><p>Ladybug bit her bottom lip. Slowly, she squinted her eyes open.</p><p>Light—obnoxiously bright—instantly infiltrated her vision. Standing in front of her was Chat Noir, of course. And around him were the trees, the birds, the blue sky…</p><p>Ladybug felt relief flood through her system. Her eyes reconnected with Chat’s, and he gave her a beaming smile. She’d missed that, too.</p><p>“Better?” He asked.</p><p>Ladybug only nodded her head, too overwhelmed to speak. Her eyes began to water, and Chat pulled her into a hug.</p><p>“That was scary,” Ladybug said, “and I was only blind for a few minutes. I can’t imagine not being able to see for…for forever.”</p><p>Chat pulled back to give Ladybug a sympathetic smile. He wiped a tear from her cheek, and she let out a small laugh.</p><p>“Thanks, Chat Noir.”</p><p>“No problem, M’Lady. That’s what partners are for. Pound it?”</p><p>Ladybug smiled.</p><p>“Pound it.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0018"><h2>18. Rejected Apology</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Pairing/Characters: Marichat<br/>Sequel to "It's All My Fault"</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Marinette sighed, using the tip of her eraser to scratch at the design she was currently working on. Damn it. It was way too hard to see in the near-darkness of her room. She wished she could turn on another lamp, at least, but she knew her mother would throw a fit if she did.</p><p>After going to the hospital and having her concussion confirmed, she and her parents—who had shown up with remarkable speed after being called—were given instructions on how to treat her injury. Apparently, that included limiting her exposure to bright light.</p><p>As embarrassing as it had been to walk home sporting an extremely unfashionable pair of hospital sunglasses, Marinette knew it had been for the best. She could understand not wanting her now extremely sensitive eyes exposed to the beaming sunlight. But could she really only have <em>one</em> lamp on in her room?</p><p>Just as Marinette was about to say ‘fuck it’ and stand up to turn on the lamp behind her, a slight tap came from her skylight window. It was so quiet that at first, Marinette thought she was just imagining things. Then it came again, louder, and Marinette knew it wasn’t just a figment of her imagination.</p><p>The doctors had warned Marinette that climbing the ladder to her loft would be risky, but she scaled it nevertheless. Maybe luck was on her side, because her vision didn’t swim and her head didn’t pound at all as she reached the top.</p><p>“Marinette?” Tikki asked from below.</p><p>Marinette shushed her and flapped a hand, wordlessly telling her to hide. If she was correct, she knew exactly who was knocking at her skylight so late at night.</p><p>Marinette hastily unlocked the window, pushing it upwards and narrowly missing smacking Chat Noir in the face. Thankfully, his cat reflexes made him rear back his head just in time.</p><p>Spluttered apologies babbled from both of their mouths, and Marinette’s face flushed red. If she remembered what she thought she did, she had revealed herself to this boy no more than a few hours ago. Even worse, she’d told him…she’d said….</p><p>“Sorry,” Chat said, and Marinette had to blink to refocus on what he was saying. “I didn’t mean to scare you, or anything. I just wanted to come…ah…”</p><p>Marinette’s eyes locked on Chat’s, and she could visibly see him swallow. His pupils were blown wide, and his blonde hair looked mussed, as if he had been running his hands through it. The light from Marinette’s balcony gave it a halo effect, starkly contrasting the night sky behind him.</p><p>“Why-why don’t you come inside?” Marinette suggested. She inched backwards on the bed, clearing enough space for Chat to climb inside. She forced all thoughts of her drowsy love confession from her mind. It hadn’t meant anything. It hadn’t. This was her chance to apologize for that—to explain.</p><p>Chat slipped easily down into her room. His feet his the bed with catlike grace, and then he was sitting across from her, eyes flashing curious glances around the room.</p><p>“It’s awfully dark in here,” he observed, breaking the silence between them.</p><p>Despite the growing pit of anxiety in her stomach, Marinette giggled.</p><p>“Doctor’s orders,” she said, “and Maman’s. I know they’re just trying to help me heal faster, but I can’t see my designs.”</p><p>She let out a frustrated huff, and a spark of humor flared back to life in Chat’s eyes. A corner of his mouth twitched upwards in an awkward, but familiar, grin.</p><p>Marinette’s posture relaxed.</p><p>This was only Chat. Her goofy, flirty, sometimes overly-obnoxious partner who she faced the world with on almost a daily basis. Even if she really had said all the things she recalled saying earlier, he wouldn’t judge her for it.</p><p>With that thought in mind, she took a deep breath.</p><p>“About what I said, earlier….”</p><p>Chat’s eyes widened, and he grew uncomfortably still. Marinette’s palms began to sweat.</p><p>“I’m sorry,” she finally said, “I wish it would have happened differently, but I’m not going to deny what I said. I’m…I’m Ladybug.”</p><p>Chat’s eyes softened, but besides that he gave no indication of what he was thinking. Marinette fidgeted on the bed. Usually her partner was so easy to read.</p><p>“Why are you apologizing?” He finally asked. “I should be the one saying sorry. I didn’t try to stop you when you obviously weren’t in total control of your words.”</p><p>Marinette shook her head, then quickly stopped as a headache threatened to impend.</p><p>“I knew what I was saying…mostly,” she explained.</p><p>“Does that mean…everything?”</p><p>Marinette bit her lip and looked away. She knew what Chat was digging at.</p><p>“I…I don’t know,” she answered honestly.</p><p>When she looked back up, Chat had looked away, down towards Marinette’s chaise. Her sketchbook still lay there, open to an illustration of a very familiar feathered hat. His eyes skimmed over the design before coming back up to rest on Marinette.</p><p>“Does my nose really twitch when I lie?” He asked.</p><p>Marinette laughed. Once again, Chat had effectively managed to diffuse the tension in the room.</p><p>“Yes,” she said, reaching out when a pout grew on Chat’s face, “it’s cute, though.”</p><p>She tapped his hand with her fingers, and Chat grinned.</p><p>“Maybe I should lie more often, then,” he said.</p><p>“Please don’t.”</p><p>Chat laughed, the sound of his bubbly giggles warming Marinette’s heart. If Marinette wasn’t supposed to be looking at sunlight, then what the hell was she supposed to do about the ray of it sitting right in front of her? She tried to hide her grin as Chat’s gaze returned to her face.</p><p>“I’m really glad it’s you, Marinette,” he said, the smile on his face widening.</p><p>Marinette smiled back, not quite sure what to say since she still didn’t know who he was on the other side of the mask. She settled on the next best thing.</p><p>“I know I’ll be glad to know your civilian self too, whenever I get the chance to meet him,” she said, a little surprised at how much truth rang in her words. Of course she’d be happy knowing whoever Chat Noir’s civilian personality was, she’d always known that. But she’d never really said it out loud before. It felt good, like one of the most important and honest confessions she’d ever made, aside from the Ladybug one she’d made earlier.</p><p>“I think you already have, M’Lady,” he winked.</p><p>Marinette’s nose crinkled. “What-?”</p><p>Chat shook his head, but amusement lingered in his eyes. “Don’t worry about it. How’s your head?”</p><p>Marinette groaned. “It would be better if I had night vision like you.”</p><p>Chat chuckled, unconsciously scooting closer to her on the bed. His boot brushed her crossed legs, hopefully not leaving a mark on her pajama pants. Considering no flecks of dirt had been left on her bed, though, Marinette assumed she was safe. She scooted closer as well.</p><p>“You know you could always wait until morning to work on designs,” Chat teased her.</p><p>Marinette grinned. “And you could always have waited until morning to come here. Seems we’re both stubborn idiots.”</p><p>Chat laughed again. “Why did Master Fu choose us, exactly?”</p><p>“Couldn’t tell you.”</p><p>Chat smiled, and Marinette was once again crushed under the weight of his sunny expression. For a moment, she swore she’d seen it before on another sunny-haired, green eyed boy. But maybe that was just her wishful thinking.</p><p>“Okay. I should probably go before we wake your parents up. I just wanted to pop by and….”</p><p>“Apologize?” Marinette asked, eyebrow quirked. When Chat nodded, Marinette rolled her eyes with a grin. “Well apology <em>not</em> accepted. It’s not your fault.” Before he could stand up, Marinette reached out and grabbed Chat’s wrist. “I wanted you to know,” she said quietly. A confession meant only for him to hear.</p><p>Slowly, a smile spread across Chat’s face. “Thanks, Ladybug. See you tomorrow?”</p><p>Marinette blinked blankly for a moment before nodding. Having Chat call her Ladybug when she wasn’t transformed was…well…it was jarring to say the least. It felt right, though.</p><p>She smiled. “Yeah. I think we have a few things to talk about. Don’t be surprised when I show up in sunglasses, though. Also doctor’s orders.”</p><p>Chat chuckled, shooting her a small salute before standing and pulling himself out her skylight. “See you tomorrow.”</p><p>“Yeah. See you, Minou.”</p><p>With that, Marinette pulled the skylight closed and sat back against her pillows. Tikki floated up from underneath the bed to sit next to her, pulling up the blankets and snuggling in. Marinette sighed.</p><p>“Tikki, is it bad I told Chat Noir who I am?” She asked.</p><p>Tikki shrugged from her position on Marinette’s shoulder. “I don’t know. It’s certainly more risky, but if it’s bad or not…that’s up to you to decide.”</p><p>Marinette bit her lip. “It doesn’t feel bad.”</p><p>“Then I guess it isn’t.”</p><p>Marinette smiled, reaching up to run a finger down the back of Tikki’s head. “Thanks, Tikki.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0019"><h2>19. Interrogation</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Pairing/Characters: Misternoire (kinda). <br/>Gabriel Agreste is interrogated by Ladynoire as to the whereabouts of his son.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>Screech!</em>
</p><p>Ladynoire felt a sense of pride well up in her chest as Gabriel Agreste—currently bound to a chair in front of her—stopped struggling once she kicked his chair back. It screeched along the cobblestone road, and the clusters of civilians witnessing the scene scattered away. Ladynoire thought to herself, briefly, that they looked like mice scurrying away from a catfight. How appropriate.</p><p>Ladynoire walked forwards, staff extended, until the metal tip touched the man’s chest. He looked up at her, cold eyes narrowed.</p><p>“What do you want from me?” He asked.</p><p>Ladynoire laughed. “Oh don’t play the innocent card now.” She dropped the staff to her side, letting it retract with the press of a button. “Where’s MisterBug?”</p><p>Gabriel had the audacity to look surprised, leaning back in his seat with wide eyes. “I have no clue where MisterBug is. It’s not <em>my</em> job to look after you superheroes.”</p><p>Ladynoire growled. She felt rage bubbling up, but she was helpless to do anything about it under her superhero guise. If she strangled Gabriel Agreste now, it would be all over the headlines tomorrow. Un<em>furr</em>tunately, she had a reputation to uphold.</p><p>She settled for a deep sigh, pulling her braid over her shoulder. “Actually, as the father of one of them, it sort of is your job. What did you do with him? Lock him inside? Send him to Milan without any notice?”</p><p>Gabriel tried to yank his arms from the rope binding him to the chair, but to no avail. Ladynoire smirked to herself. She would have to remember to return the chair to Alya’s house, or possibly buy her a new one, later. It had been a spur of the moment idea to drop into her best friend’s apartment and grab the chair. She had only needed Gabriel to <em>stop running</em>.</p><p>“I didn’t do any of those things,” Gabriel denied.</p><p>Now, she needed him to stop <em>lying</em>.</p><p>Ladynoire shook her head, the black cat ears on top waving in the wind.</p><p>“So then where is he?”</p><p>Gabriel opened his mouth to respond, but before he could get a word out, the akuma roared in the distance. Ladynoire grit her teeth. She took three steps up to Gabriel, grabbing him by the lapels of his shirt and lifting him, the chair, <em>everything</em> off the ground.</p><p>“Tell me where he is right now,” she growled through gritted teeth, “and I won’t leave you for the akuma to find.”</p><p>Gabriel swallowed, but set his face stubbornly. “It is not my job to look after Adrien, either. He’s made that clear to me on several occasions. I don’t know where he is.”</p><p>“Bullshit.”</p><p>The crease in Gabriel’s forehead deepened, and he opened his mouth to fire back, but before he could the akuma growled. It sounded deep, and much closer than it had been before. Maybe just around the block.</p><p>Ladynoire nodded her head in the direction of the sound. “I’d suggest that you speak now. Something tells me that akuma is far less forgiving than I am. And you’re not in your butterfly suit right now.”</p><p>Gabriel glanced towards the sound. As if spurred by Ladynoire’s words, the akuma gave another roar from the other side of the buildings. The force of it shook the ground beneath them.</p><p>“Fine,” Gabriel ground out, obviously annoyed, “he’s at his apartment. I haven’t seen him in hours, though.”</p><p>A lie. She knew it was a lie. He’d done something to prevent Misterbug from reaching the fight, so he must have seen him recently.</p><p>Ladynoire forced a smile to her face anyway, stepping back and releasing her hold on Gabriel’s shirt. The chair clattered to the ground.</p><p>“Thank you.” She walked around Mr. Agreste to untie the rope, letting him untangle it for himself as she prepped her baton. “Your service is appreciated,” she bit out, letting every drop of sarcasm bleed out. He deserved to know that she was angry, not that he’d care.</p><p>She gave a signature, Black Cat bow before taking a running leap away. As she hurried across the rooftops towards Adrien’s apartment, she couldn’t help but mutter curses underneath her breath.</p><p>Once, there had been a time where she’d been inspired by, even admired, Gabriel Agreste and his work. Now, that time seemed so long ago that she couldn’t even remember why.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0020"><h2>20. Common Cold</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Pairing/Characters: Ladynoir</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Are you sure you don’t just want to call Chat and tell him you can’t come tonight?” Tikki asked from her spot on Marinette’s desk.</p><p>Marinette glanced up from her blanket cocoon on the chaise.</p><p>“I’m sure. It’s the—“ Marinette coughed, covering her mouth with her blanket before continuing. “—last night of patrol before Christmas.”</p><p>She sneezed, and Tikki shot her a sympathetic look.</p><p>“Okay. But only because I can’t convince you otherwise. Let’s go now before it gets any colder out.”</p><p>Marinette nodded, shakily standing up from her cocoon.</p><p>“Tikki…achoo!…<em>Spots On!</em>”</p><hr/><p>When Ladybug finally spotted her partner sitting on top of a bakery rooftop, she immediately noticed that something was wrong. His shoulders were hunched over, knees drawn up to his chest, and as Ladybug walked closer, she noticed the color was drained from his cheeks.</p><p>“Hey Chat, you okay?”</p><p>Chat jumped, turning to Ladybug with wide eyes. It took him a moment to realize it was just her, but once he did, he relaxed and shot her a wavering smile.</p><p>“Hey LB,” he said, “ready for patrol?”</p><p>He was avoiding her question, never a good sign from Chat, but Ladybug let it slide as she plopped down beside him. She was too tired to force answers out of him when he obviously didn’t want to talk about it. His cheeks were awfully red, though. And his eyes looked glassy—the city lights reflecting brighter than usual in them.</p><p>Ladybug turned away to sneeze into her arm, and when she turned back around, Chat was staring at her with a concerned look on his face.</p><p>“It’s just allergies,” Ladybug said before breaking off into a coughing fit.</p><p>“Allergies, hm?”</p><p>Ladybug shot Chat a glare.</p><p>“Fine. I’m sick. But Tikki said I was okay to be here.”</p><p>“She did, did she? Could I get that in writing?”</p><p>Ladybug scowled. Suddenly, Chat held up a finger, turning away to sneeze. When he turned back, his nose was bright pink and his eyes were watering.</p><p>“Would you believe me if I said it’s just allergies?” He asked with a sniffle.</p><p>Ladybug cracked a smile. “I guess we’re both liars, then.”</p><p>Chat sighed, the sound rumbling in his chest. Though, whether it was from being sick, or from his cat purr, Ladybug wasn’t sure. He scooted over to lean his head on top of Ladybug’s.</p><p>“I feel like garbage.“</p><p>“Me too,” Ladybug sighed. “My throat burns.”</p><p>“My nose won’t stop running.”</p><p>“Ew, get it away from my hair, then!”</p><p>Ladybug tried to shove Chat’s face away from her, but he just laughed and wrapped his arms around her, pinning her to him. She squealed, but her voice cracked in the middle of it and both teens burst out laughing.</p><p>“I’m going to use you as my personal tissue,” Chat teased her.</p><p>“I will not hesitate to cough on you.”</p><p>Chat giggled and finally let go of Ladybug. She scrambled away from him, pretending to dust herself off.</p><p>“Get your nasty germs away from me,” she said.</p><p>“Only if you keep your nasty germs away from <em>me</em>.”</p><p>“I feel like we probably have the same nasty germs.”</p><p>“My <em>whole class </em>has the same nasty germs,” Chat sighed. He leaned back on his hands, crossing his legs in front of him. “Two of my classmates had to go home sick today, and my best friend looked like he got hit by a bus.”</p><p>“Two people went home in my class today, too,” Ladybug said, frowning, “but my best friend was fine. Actually, she kept teasing me about how bad I looked. Then I went home and laid in a blanket cocoon for five hours. She video called me, and I think she felt bad for teasing me because she promised that she would bring me hot cocoa tomorrow.”</p><p>Chat grinned, cocking his head at her. His eyes, while still watering, had gone all soft. Ladybug couldn’t decide if she loved or hated it when that happened. On one hand, it was kind of adorable—like real life kitten eyes. On the other hand, it often got him into more trouble than good.</p><p>“Why are you smiling like that?” Ladybug asked.</p><p>“I like hearing about your civilian life,” Chat said, “you don’t talk about it that much.”</p><p>Ladybug shrugged, coughing into her arm.</p><p>“It’s supposed to be secret. I’m too tired right now to care, though. You don’t know what I’d give for a warm blanket and a nap.”</p><p>Chat stretched his arms out towards her, and Ladybug scooted into them.</p><p>“I’ll be your blanket if you’ll be mine,” Chat spoke above her head.</p><p>Ladybug giggled, wrapping her arms around Chat’s as they crossed in front of her.</p><p>“Thanks, Chat Noir,” she whispered, savoring the warmth wrapped around her. “I appreciate it.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0021"><h2>21. Nightmares</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Pairing/Characters: Marichat<br/>Post-reveal</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The akuma strode closer, his narrowed eyes gleaming red in the setting sun. His cape fluttered behind him, a deep, blood red color that sent shivers down Marinette’s spine. On his face, half of a black mask concealed his cheek and part of his nose. The other side not covered by the mask revealed purple skin with black lips.</p><p>Marinette scrambled backwards on the concrete flooring of the Palais de Chaillot.</p><p>“Ladybug, you cannot keep running forever,” the akuma spoke. His voice was deep, echoing loudly against the outer walls of the Palais. “You are ill-equipped to fight against me.”</p><p>“Who are you?” Marinette found herself asking. Her heart pounded in her chest, breath stuttering.</p><p>The akuma laughed. Suddenly, he began to twist and contort, morphing right in front of Marinette’s eyes. Green bled into his red irises, and scruffy, white hair began to grow from his head. With it came a pair of snowy white cat ears. His cape disappeared, dissipating into the wind. White travelled up the akuma’s body, and the mask on his face spread until it securely covered both sides of his face. Finally, a white bell appeared on the akuma’s collar, and Chat Blanc was left standing in his place.</p><p>“Don’t you recognize me, My Lady?” Chat Blanc chuckled.</p><p>Marinette felt tears prick her eyes. “Chat, no,” she whispered.</p><p>Chat Blanc walked forwards until he was quite literally standing over her. With a smirk, he bent down to lift her chin with his finger.</p><p>“You really think you can win, Ladybug? You’re that naive? You should have quit the first time you doubted yourself,” Chat Blanc spat.</p><p>Marinette whimpered. “You don’t mean that. You’re akumatized.”</p><p>“Am I?” Chat Blanc asked, dropping her chin in favor of standing back up. He towered over her, his gaze filled with nothing but hatred. It made Marinette’s stomach turn. “Maybe this is just who I really am after you pull back all the years of being daddy’s perfect little boy. I don’t love you, Marinette. How could I? You rejected me all that time for my alter ego. You didn’t love the part of me that was real! The part of me that didn’t have to hide anything from you but his birth name! The part of me that, when I needed you, you were never there!”</p><p>A warm drop of water rolled down Marinette’s cheek. Her vision blurred with tears and she let out a choked sob. “Adrien, I’m so sorry! But I did—do—love you! Both sides! I just…I couldn’t realize it-”</p><p>Even through her tears, Marinette could see Chat Blanc shake his head. She shut her mouth as her shoulders shook.</p><p>“You’re not sorry,” Chat Blanc said, “but it’s fine. You just have to give me your Miraculous, and this will all be over.”</p><p>Chat Blanc crouched down again, his hands going for her ears. Marinette screamed and tried to scoot away, but it was too late. His claws closed around her earrings, and then she had the sensation of burning as he ripped them from her ears. She screamed louder, trying to grab his hands.</p><p>Chat Blanc’s hands closed around her wrists, trying to stop her—pin her. But his claws didn’t dig into her skin like before. Actually, he seemed rather…gentle.</p><p>Still, he had her earrings, and as warm tears leaked down Marinette’s face, all she could think of was fighting back…</p><p>“<em>Marinette? Marinette. Marinette!</em>”</p><p> </p><p>Marinette sat straight up in bed with a gasp.</p><p>“Sorry, I was out on a run and heard you screaming, so I let myself in. I think you were having a nightmare. Are you okay?”</p><p>Marinette turned her head, blinking. Sitting next to her on the bed, holding her wrists gently in his hands, was Chat Noir. His green eyes glowed in the dark room, brow furrowed in concern.</p><p>Marinette’s breath left her in one swoop. She sobbed, flinging her arms around Chat Noir’s neck and burying her face in his shoulder. He seemed startled, but after a moment his arms wrapped around her back and squeezed her tighter to himself.</p><p>“It’s okay,” he whispered above her head, “you’re okay.”</p><p>“I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry,” Marinette cried over and over again into his shoulder. “I wasn’t there when you needed me. I’m a horrible Ladybug, and an even worse partner. I’m so sorry.”</p><p>Chat Noir pulled back, holding Marinette at arm’s length. His eyes were searching her face, confused. “What are you talking about? What were you dreaming?”</p><p>Marinette let out a shaky sob, clutching her arms around her torso. She looked down at her bedding, refusing to make eye contact with Chat. “You were Chat Blanc. You wanted my earrings, but you told me…you said I couldn’t love you because I didn’t love Chat Noir before. But I did! I do love you! And you said you didn’t love me and I should have quit and I really should have because I’m a coward and I can’t-”</p><p>Marinette’s stream of words cut off as warm lips collided with her own. Her eyes slipped closed automatically. Chat Noir’s hands trailed upwards to cup her face, stroking her hair back gently. Salty tears dripped down from Marinette’s cheeks, mixing in with their kiss.</p><p>When Chat finally pulled back, Marinette sat back, confused.</p><p>“What was that for?”</p><p>“You were overthinking. Marinette, of <em>course</em> I love you. I love you like this. <em>Claws out</em>.” Bright green light raced up Chat Noir’s body until only Adrien was left. “And I love you like this. How long have you thought that I didn’t?”</p><p>Adrien’s expression flickered, hurt shining through for just a split second, and Marinette wiped a tear from her cheek. Guilt pooled at the bottom of her stomach.</p><p>“I’m sorry,” she whispered. She reached out and took his hand in hers, twining their fingers together. “I know you love me, and I love you. I just…these nightmares keep happening and I don’t know how to get them to stop. What if…what if they never go away?”</p><p>Adrien sighed. He scooted closer to Marinette, wrapping an arm around her and pulling her to his chest. She sank into him gratefully. His heart beat rhythmically next to her ear, and she let out a shaky sigh.</p><p>“It’s okay. I get them too, sometimes. Usually it’s you…dying…or falling or getting hurt because I wasn’t fast enough. Other times it’s my father. Sometimes it’s random akuma. But you have to remember it’s not real. This—” Adrien squeezed Marinette’s hand. “—is real. What’s done is done.”</p><p>Marinette let out a relieved laugh. She snuggled closer to Adrien’s chest as he pulled a blanket over their legs.</p><p>“Thanks, <em>Chaton</em>. I needed that.”</p><p>She felt Adrien smile against her hair. His breath ghosted against the top of her head, and she reached up to run a hand through his hair.</p><p>“Me too,” he murmured.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0022"><h2>22. Forced to Hurt Someone</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Pairing/Characters: Misternoire <br/>Sequel to Interrogation</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It had been a little over seven years since Marinette had first agreed to become Ladybug. A little over seven years, and a lot had changed. For starters, Hawkmoth’s akumas had gotten stronger, and stranger. The giant mass of purple and blue currently stalking the city and crushing buildings under his feet was prime evidence of that. Another thing that had changed during the past seven years was the heroes own set of powers. Ladybug and Chat had agreed to switch Miraculous about a year ago, after a long conversation in which Tikki and Plagg had explained to them the benefits it would give to their still-developing powers. It was a conversation they’d had as their civilian selves, since they’d accidentally revealed themselves to each other a year prior.</p><p>The last thing that had changed, and probably the most dangerous, was Hawkmoth’s powers. They’d gotten darker, more malignant. Which was why Ladynoire found her heart beating triple the speed it should as she flung open the window to Adrien’s apartment, and ducked inside.</p><p>The apartment was dark, the only light coming from the window she had unceremoniously thrown open. All the other blinds were closed.</p><p>Ladynoire shivered, though it wasn’t cold. She had the strangest sensation that someone was watching her.</p><p>Ladynoire spun around, and with a loud ‘slap’ her hand collided with Adrien’s cheek.</p><p>“<em>Mon Dieu!</em> I’m so sorry!” She immediately apologized, reaching out to touch Adrien’s cheek. Her hand froze halfway there.</p><p>Although her slap had been hard, sent full force towards what she’d thought to be an opponent, Adrien hadn’t so much as flinched. In fact, as Ladynoire’s hand drew back to her side, he smiled down at her. His eyes were trained on hers, but they were glassy. She felt like he was looking straight through her.</p><p>She swallowed. “They bugged you.”</p><p>Adrien said nothing. One of his hands wrapped around her back, though, his touch startling her. He curled his fingers into her waist, gently drawing her closer. If Ladynoire hadn’t known better, she might have thought he meant to kiss her.</p><p>Before he could pull her any closer, she ducked out of his hold. Adrien turned towards her as she backed away, his mouth agape.</p><p>“Why’d you do that?” He asked.</p><p>His hurt expression sent a dart through Ladynoire’s heart, but she knew the hurt was fake. Hawkmoth was controlling him—using him. He could pull strings on him like a puppet, and get him to say, do, or look however he wanted. It was like being akumatized, except without the turning into a monster part.</p><p>Now she just had to find the bug.</p><p>“Where’d he put it?” Ladynoire asked, despite knowing that Adrien wouldn’t tell her. He couldn’t.</p><p>As she suspected, Adrien said nothing. He walked closer instead, his green eyes flickering back and forth between her face and the black ring on her finger. It was no challenge to figure out what he was thinking.</p><p>Ladynoire continued to back away, carefully avoiding Adrien’s coffee table and couch. She’d been in his apartment enough times to know her way around.</p><p>“Why are you running away from me?” Adrien asked, lower lip jutting out. Ladynoire fought the urge to wince. Real Adrien would never do that. Obviously, Hawkmoth didn’t know him as much as he thought he did. “Don’t you love me?”</p><p>Ladynoire snorted. She ducked low to the ground, put one leg out straight, and spun. The move worked, successfully knocking Adrien off of his feet. He landed on the floor with a thud.</p><p>“Sorry, <em>Minou</em>. Hopefully that doesn’t leave a bruise,” she said.</p><p>She forced her eyes to stay down, focusing on pinning Adrien’s legs underneath her instead of looking at his face. Despite knowing it wasn’t real, seeing him upset still hurt. She couldn’t afford to be distracted.</p><p>Once his legs were pinned beneath her, Ladynoire used her arms to bat away Adrien’s hands as they came for her ring. She wrapped herself around him in a hug, pinning his arms to his sides.</p><p>“It has to be here somewhere. It’s…aha! Found it!”</p><p>With a tug, Ladynoire pulled the bug from the back of Adrien’s shirt. She didn’t give him a moment to protest before she’d squashed it in her hands, letting the broken bits crumble down to the living room floor.</p><p>When she was certain the bug had been destroyed, she sat back.</p><p>Adrien was staring at her again, but this time with confusion. “Ladynoire? What happened?”</p><p>Ladynoire gave a breathy laugh, relief flooding through her. “Hawkmoth was controlling you,” she explained, wrapping Adrien up in another hug. “You <em>scared</em> me. Are you okay? I had to hurt you…”</p><p>Adrien pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I’m fine.”</p><p>“I hate these bugs. Mayura and Hawkmoth need to stop using them.”</p><p>“I hate them too, but you know as well as I do that they won’t stop using them if they’re effective.”</p><p>Ladynoire huffed against Adrien’s shoulder. “There’s an akuma outside. They were trying to stop you from getting to it, again.”</p><p>Adrien didn’t reply, but Ladynoire felt his fingers run through her hair. She gave herself a moment, one precious moment, to close her eyes and imagine that they’d defeated Hawkmoth and Mayura. That the living room they were sitting in was their own little house, and that there wasn’t a ginormous akuma outside wreaking havoc. For one moment, the world was at peace.</p><p>A crash from outside shook the floor of the apartment, and Ladynoire pulled away from Adrien. Times up. They had a city to save.</p><p>She held her hand out to him as she stood, and he allowed her to pull him up.</p><p>“Let’s go, Bugaboy.”</p><p>Adrien rolled his eyes at the nickname, but called his transformation on. “You know I’ll follow you anywhere, M’Lady.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0023"><h2>23. Mind Control</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Pairing/Characters: Marichat<br/>Fluffy :)))</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“What are you doing?”</p><p>One corner of Chat’s mouth quirked upwards as he watched Marinette. She was sitting quietly on her chaise, fingers pressed to her temples and face scrunched up in concentration. She looked utterly ridiculous, but in an extremely adorable way. It was like watching a cupcake try to be mad.</p><p>“I’m trying to mind control you into getting me some water from downstairs,” she explained, her face never once leaving it’s concentrated state.</p><p>Chat laughed, rolling over on the bed so that his head hung upside down off the railing. He was pleasantly surprised to find that Marinette looked equally as cute upside down. “You could just ask me, you know.”</p><p>Marinette groaned, flopping back onto her chaise. “Yes. But Tikki told me some Miraculous holders can use mind control with their upgraded powers.”</p><p>Chat cocked his head to one side—a difficult feat to accomplish while hanging upside down. “That sounds dangerous.”</p><p>“It is. Which is why I need to figure out if I have it or not so that I can learn to use it properly.”</p><p>“Well since I’m not up and getting you a glass of water, I’d assume that you don’t have it.”</p><p>Chat grinned in victory as an amused smile spread across Marinette’s face and she opened her eyes. Her arms dropped to her sides.</p><p>“Okay. I guess not. But I still want that glass of water.”</p><p>“<em>Please</em>?” Chat said, but he was already flipping himself right side up so he could descend her loft bed’s ladder.</p><p>Marinette rolled her eyes with a fond smile. “Please.”</p><p>Chat jumped down to the floor, skipping the last few rungs on her ladder in favor of sashaying up to Marinette, and taking her hand. He swept into a valiant bow, and pressed a kiss to her knuckles. When he looked back up, he was pleased to see a rosy hue dusting her cheeks.</p><p>She scoffed and yanked her hand away, but Chat could still see the pink tinting her cheeks. Good. She deserved the punishment of a little fluster after shamelessly trying to mind control him.</p><p>“Got it. One glass of water and ten macaroons coming right up,” Chat said as he straightened.</p><p>Marinette nodded before she caught what he’d added to her order, and by the time she opened her mouth to say something, Chat was already through the trapdoor. He snickered as he padded down the stairs, thinking of how outraged she’d be when he came back with twenty instead of ten. Oh well. She should be thankful that he couldn’t mind control her. Otherwise, he’d be coming back with <em>thirty</em>.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0024"><h2>24. Fighting From the Inside</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Pairing/Characters: Ladynoir</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“LB? You there?”</p><p>Chat turned down a hallway inside his own house, his footsteps as light as a cat’s against the marble floor. It was dark outside, and all the curtains lining the hall had been drawn shut. His bedroom light was on just down the hallway, but it provided only the tiniest sliver of golden light along the floor. That was fine. Chat preferred the dark anyway. It was easier to hide in.</p><p>
  <em>“I’m here. Are you okay?”</em>
</p><p>Chat breathed a sigh of relief as Ladybug’s voice filtered through his earpiece.</p><p>“I’m fine. Just wondering if you were okay. And…I have something to tell you, but I can’t say it here.”</p><p>Chat heard Ladybug inhale. She let it out in a slow breath before speaking again.</p><p>
  <em>“Okay. Want to meet?”</em>
</p><p>“The alley behind Notre Dame?”</p><p>
  <em>“That sounds good to me.”</em>
</p><p>Chat fought the grin threatening to overtake his face. He knew his father had cameras set up around the house. Thankfully, they had no audio, but any sign of amusement or joy Adrien showed could he used against him.</p><p>He reached his room at the end of the hall, and slipped inside. It was warmer and more inviting in here, but the space was still much too big.</p><p>Chat leapt up to his window. One perk of being on his father’s good side, for once, was that the bars that had guarded his windows for so many nights were gone, allowing him to come and go as he pleased. Night air washed over his face as he stared out at the city.</p><p>“I’ll meet you there in five,” Chat said into his earpiece.</p><p><em>“Alright. I’ll be there,” </em>Ladybug replied. Her voice grew soft.<em> “I’ll bring something for you. Croissants?”</em></p><p>Chat smiled freely now that he was in the confines of his own bedroom. “Sounds delicious, my…”</p><p>He cut himself off before he could say it. One thing that would definitely give him away if overheard, was any use of Ladybug’s name.</p><p>He tilted forwards on the window sill instead, then leapt out into the night. Using streetlights to guide his way, he ran across the rooftops towards Notre Dame Cathedral.</p><p><em>“I’m hanging up now. Almost there,” </em>Ladybug said.</p><p>Chat dropped down onto Notre Dame’s roof. He slid down to the edge, then used his baton to swiftly lower himself into the alleyway across the street.</p><p>“Seems I beat you, for once. I’m already there,” Chat teased, just before he felt a tap on his shoulder.</p><p>He spun around, and his face lit up as he took in Ladybug standing in front of him. She held a white paper bag of pastries in one hand, while the other lowered from Chat’s shoulder to plant itself on her hip.</p><p>“Nice to finally see you again,” she said, grinning and raising an eyebrow at him.</p><p>Chat let a giddy smile break out over his face as Ladybug turned away to open the pastries. It hadn’t been that long since he’d last seen her in person—only about a week ago—but it felt like ages had passed in that small amount of time. They’d both effectively gone from seeing each other almost every day, to occasionally catching glimpses of each other while running rooftops.</p><p>“Listen,” Chat said, clicking off his earpiece and shoving it back into his baton, “my dad’s going to try and akumatize Lila again tomorrow.”</p><p>Ladybug groaned, still rifling through the pastry bag. “Again?”</p><p>Chat nodded, dropping down beside her to peek in the bag. The aroma of freshly baked bread hit him as soon as he leaned over, instantly making his mouth water.</p><p>“Yeah, sorry. But if it makes you feel any better, I have an idea about how to use that to our advantage.”</p><p>Ladybug didn’t turn to him, but offered him a chocolate filled croissant from the bag. He gladly took it.</p><p>“How?”</p><p>Chat rocked back on his heels, and took a bite of his croissant. Mmm…chocolate.</p><p>“I’m going to get him to take off his Miraculous.”</p><p>At this, Ladybug did look up at him. “How are you going to manage that one?”</p><p>“I’m going to suggest that he turn Lila into an akumatized miraculous holder, using his miraculous.”</p><p>Ladybug pulled a croissant from the bag, biting into it even while she frowned at him. “But won’t she have to akumatize herself, then?”</p><p>Chat nodded. “Yeah, or he could send out the butterfly right before giving the pin to her. Either way, it should get the Miraculous away from him long enough for me to take it.”</p><p>“What about Mayura?”</p><p>Chat bit his bottom lip. “If you come to take the Butterfly Miraculous from me and bring it somewhere safe, I think I can handle her alone.”</p><p>Ladybug crossed her arms over her chest. “You <em>think</em>?”</p><p>Chat’s shoulders dropped. “It’s Nathalie. She won’t hurt me.”</p><p>Ladybug shook her head. “You don’t know that.”</p><p>“Ladybug, we knew that fighting from the inside would be dangerous. I have to do this. It could be our only chance.”</p><p>“You live in his <em>house</em>. There’s always other chances.”</p><p>“Ladybug…”</p><p>“Chat Noir.”</p><p>Both teens shut their mouths to glare at each other, but their staring match was short lived. Ladybug threw her weight forward, wrapping her arms around Chat and squeezing him until he could barely breath. Not that he could breath with Ladybug this close to him, anyway.</p><p>“I just don’t want you getting hurt,” Ladybug said, her face turned away from him. “I… I’d feel guilty.”</p><p>“Why? I was the one who decided to do this after we found out that Hawkmoth is…well…my father.”</p><p>Chat felt Ladybug sigh against his shoulder. Warm breath seeped through his suit, sending shivers down his arm.</p><p>“I don’t know, but I would. So please, don’t do anything stupid? I’ll be there to back you up, but I need you to be there to back me up as well. Okay?”</p><p>Ladybug finally pulled back to look Chat in the eyes. He smiled down at her, brushing a stray hair away from her face.</p><p>It was obvious she was worried, and he was too… a little. But they’d known this would happen sooner or later. They’d been waiting forever for an opportunity—too long. So now it was time to make their own. And if that meant going up against Mayura, Gabriel, and Lila combined, then so be it.</p><p>“Okay, I’ll be careful,” Chat agreed.</p><p>Ladybug smiled gratefully. “Thank you.”</p><p>He dropped his hand from her face, and she scooted back, putting a more comfortable distance between the two.</p><p>“Gosh. Can you imagine life without akumas?” She asked. She laughed softly, the sound echoing in the alleyway. “I’ll actually get my homework done on time.”</p><p>Chat grinned, leaning back on the palms of his hands. “My dad and assistant will be in jail, but with any luck, the Gorilla will still get me to school in time to see you run in late.”</p><p>He’d meant for it to be a bit of a joke, but Ladybug’s face instantly sobered. She twisted her fingers around in her lap as she stared at the ground.</p><p>“You know, my house is always open to you. I’m sure that if we explained my mom wouldn’t mind, and my dad would be thrilled to have another Mecha Strike opponent. He already likes you,” she said.</p><p>Chat’s heart squeezed in his chest, but in a good way. He liked Marinette’s family. Her mom was sweet, and always made sure that he felt comfortable when he was at their house. Marinette’s dad was a little protective of her, sure, but also incredibly enthusiastic when it came to video games and making sure that the kids had fun. It meant a lot to him that they approved of him.</p><p>“Thanks. I might take you up on that, sometime,” he said.</p><p>Ladybug’s smile stretched fully across her face this time. “Good. You deserve a break after being stuck with Hawkmoth for so long.”</p><p>With that said, she punched him playfully in the shoulder, and tossed him the bag of treats.</p><p>“Anything else to report?” She asked.</p><p>Chat laughed, rubbing his sore shoulder. “Nope. Just that I love you.”</p><p>“I already knew that.”</p><p>“Just making sure.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0025"><h2>25. Brainwashing</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Pairing/Characters: Ladynoir<br/>Last one!!!! If you've read this far you deserve much love &lt;3</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“…Fight back!”</p><p>Her mind had the consistency of fog. That was the only thing she could think of to describe the feeling. It was like walking through cold, damp fog in her brain. Smog sticking to her skin, beads of water rolling down her arms, legs, and forehead.</p><p>Then, between the layers of deep, black, and stiflingly thick fog, someone’s voice was commanding her to do terrible things. Horrible things. Things that she never in a million years would have done if her mind hadn’t been totally convinced that it was the right thing to do solely because he was telling her to do it. He, being the booming voice penetrating through the fog. He made her legs kick out and her hands clench into fists. And, vaguely, Ladybug knew he was making her fight someone. Someone with familiar green eyes that shone through the fog. Someone she felt like she should <em>not</em> be fighting. But why?</p><p>Ladybug arced her fist towards her opponent. The green eyes dodged.</p><p>“Ladybug!” A hazy voice drifted through the fog. It was far from the powerful volume of the other man’s. “It’s me! Stop!”</p><p>She didn’t stop. But she wanted to. Her body was moving on it’s own accord, ignoring her desperate pleads. The other voice was too strong.</p><p>Her leg swung upwards, nailing the other person in the nose. He groaned, stumbling backwards and clutching at it. While he was distracted, the powerful voice commanded her to swipe his legs out from under him. She did.</p><p>The boy tumbled to the ground with a thud. Ladybug’s legs forced her towards him, her yo-yo dangling at her side. When she finally stood over him, she zipped her yo-up down and around one of his wrists. The one with the ring on it, just as the powerful voice commanded.</p><p>She leaned down, and her fingers brushed against the cool metal ring. Suddenly, as if the touch had sparked an electric shock, another voice from the back of Ladybug’s mind <em>screamed</em>.</p><p>She doubled over, practically straddling her opponent at this point. She found it hard to care, though, when her mind felt like it was exploding. The fog turned to blackness in her mind, and she squeezed her eyes shut tight against it.</p><p><em>“Get the ring!” </em>The powerful voice howled.</p><p><em>“No! Don’t touch him!” </em>The new voice shouted. Ladybug thought that it might have been her voice.</p><p>She clenched her teeth, pressing the palms of her hands flat against her ears.</p><p>
  <em>“Ladybug, get his ring! Stop this nonsense!”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Don’t! You can’t do that!”</em>
</p><p><em>“Don’t listen to her! She’s an idiot. A child! </em>I<em> am in charge of you. You will listen to </em>me<em>!”</em></p><p>Ladybug whimpered. There were too many voices, and not enough control over any of them. They were demanding too many things of her. Just holding her hands to her head was draining, as one voice tried to pry them away. Her arms shook from the effort of not giving in.</p><p>“Ladybug.”</p><p>Ladybug’s eyes blinked open. A third voice, smaller and more soft spoken than the other two, had broken through the fog. It was the same voice that had screamed her name earlier, told her to fight back.</p><p>Her eyes made contact with the green ones in front of her.</p><p>“What’s he telling you?” The green-eyed boy asked. She recognized that he had sat up while she wasn’t paying attention, but he hadn’t moved away from her. In fact, one of his hands was resting on her shoulder. It felt warm, sending unexpected tingles through her skin.</p><p>What was <em>who</em> telling her? The powerful voice? Or the one that sounded like her own? That one had gone oddly quiet.</p><p>
  <em>“Stop talking, and take the ring! Now, while he’s not expecting it!”</em>
</p><p>Ladybug’s mouth shook from the effort of opening it. Or maybe she was crying and that was making her lips tremble—she wasn’t quite sure.</p><p>“I…,” she stuttered.</p><p>
  <em>“Take it now! Obey me! Stop being disobedient!”</em>
</p><p>“Whatever he’s saying, it’s not true.”</p><p>The hand moved from her shoulder down her arm, finally coming to a rest against her elbow. From here, she could see his black ring glinting in the sunlight. The male voice urged her to grab it.</p><p>Her left hand began to raise.</p><p><em>“Don’t! Please!”</em> The female voice pleaded.</p><p>The male scoffed. <em>“Don’t listen to her. She’s nothing. But once you have his ring, you won’t be nothing anymore. You’ll be stronger, braver. I will reward you with power.”</em></p><p>The green eyed boy was looking at her with a sympathetic expression. His gaze flickered between her eyes and the ring on his finger, but he said nothing. Despite his silence, Ladybug knew he had guessed what the man was telling her.</p><p>Ladybug forced her hand back down.</p><p>Her voice warbled as she finally spoke. “I’m nothing.”</p><p>If at all possible, the boy’s eyes grew even more sympathetic. “Of course you’re not nothing.”</p><p>“But I am.”</p><p>“Is he telling you that?”</p><p>Ladybug opened her mouth to respond, but no words came out. She settled for nodding, instead, since the male voice was apparently forcing her to hold her tongue.</p><p>The hand from her elbow dropped, and the boy looked down as he folded his hands in his lap. When he looked back up again, he refused to make eye contact with her. Instead, he looked off beyond her left shoulder towards the city.</p><p>“I know how you feel,” he said quietly. So quietly that Ladybug barely heard it over the roaring voice in her mind. “But you can’t let it get to you. It’s not true. He’s using this to manipulate you. And you’re…you’re everything to me. So tell me where the akumatized object is.”</p><p>
  <em>“Don’t do that!”</em>
</p><p>Ladybug’s gaze flickered back and forth between the boy and her own lap. Who was she supposed to trust? The voice inside her mind? Or the invisible strings that seemed to tug her heart towards the boy?</p><p>“My… hair ribbon,” Ladybug whispered.</p><p>She could barely get the words out before her hands began to twitch and the fog swarmed her vision two-fold. White hot pain raced through her, and she struggled against it in her mind. Her throat felt like it was closing in. Black specks invaded her vision, and she prayed—<em>prayed</em>—that the boy would stop this. He could stop this. He could…</p><p>That was the last thought Ladybug had before blackness took over.</p><p> </p><p>When Ladybug woke up on a street in Paris surrounded by millions of reporters, photographers, and curious civilians, she had to wonder if she had transformed back. That was the only logical reason this many people could be swarming her. Well, her and Chat Noir.</p><p>Chat was kneeling in front of her, clutching a red hair ribbon in his hand. It was hers. It was shredded.</p><p>Her eyes filled with shocked tears as she took in his face. Bruised and battered, with blood stained under his nose. He held out the ribbon to her, and she flinched away, expecting him to be mad. But all he did was give her a tired smile.</p><p>“I need you to do this part,” he said, taking her hand and forcing the ribbon into it.</p><p>Ladybug’s fist closed around the ribbon. With none of her usual grace, she threw it up in the air and shouted, “<em>Miraculous Ladybug!</em>”</p><p>The magical ladybugs zipped around the city, repairing the damage that the akuma—she—had created. They flew to Chat and Ladybug last, whooshing around their bodies and healing whatever had been hurt.</p><p>“What happened?” Ladybug asked once the ladybugs disappeared. She suspected that she didn’t really want to know the answer to that, but she had to. She had to know. But before she could get an answer, the people standing around them began pressing in, demanding answers as well.</p><p>“Ladybug, did you really get akumatized?” One asked.</p><p>“Chat Noir! How did it feel to fight your partner?”</p><p>Ladybug jumped as a hand grabbed her arm, until she realized it was only Chat Noir. He pulled her away, waving a hand at the crowd of reporters around them.</p><p>“Come on, Bug. Let’s go home,” he said.</p><p>He pulled her to him, planting his staff on the cement as he prepared to take off. The reporters all came running after them, but Chat waved them away. Ladybug couldn’t tell what he was doing while her face was pressed dangerously close to his chest, but she didn’t have time to think about it more as he suddenly lifted them both off the ground and away. Her earrings beeped.</p><p>“What did I do?”</p><p>Chat sighed, the sound muffled by the wind in her ears. “Nothing, Bug,” he said after a moment, “you were brainwashed. It wasn’t you.”</p><p>“But it was-”</p><p>Chat cut her off with a hasty kiss planted on the top of her head. “Stop. You’re not that, and you’re not nothing. I don’t know exactly what Hawkmoth said to you, but I never want to see you that broken again.”</p><p>There was a firmness to his voice that shocked her. She shut her mouth, choosing to lean closer into Chat instead or arguing. “Thank you for saving me.”</p><p>There was a long pause from above as Chat cleared another rooftop. He landed with catlike grace on the other side before responding. “Of course… you’re everything to me.”</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>